Swords and Bows: Recension
by TheSilentSwordsman
Summary: When Shino Asada is trapped inside of the death game Sword Art Online, she must fight with the one partner she trusts to make it out alive. [REWRITE of Swords and Bows!] T to be safe. Cover not mine. DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sword Art Online, or its characters.
1. I: A (New) New Beginning

I

A (New) New Beginning

* * *

The _clicks_ and _clacks_ of untrimmed fingernails on hard plastic keys were all but drowned out by the white noise of heavy rainfall. In that particular home, on a day with weather such as then, the windows would usually be bright with a mellow but artificial light.

In the only dim room in the house, darkly circled eyes scanned the same few websites over and over, skimming descriptions and technical specifications. Periodically, these eyes would glance to a corner of the monitor set just a few inches from the teenager's face, double and triple checking the time.

Kazuto Kirigaya restlessly tapped an agitated rhythm on his table, with the hand that wasn't on his mouse. The website he consistently returned to was flamboyant and almost garish. In the center, large stylized text read: _Sword Art: Online!_ It was known widely as the first video game that wasn't, but at the same time was, a video game. A whole new world, as Argus had marketed it.

Another click, and Kazuto was met with a semi-familiar face. Akihiko Kayaba smiled and held the _NerveGear_ in his hands, in a picture taken just days prior. Kazuto glanced at the same gunmetal-coloured helmet, along with all of its neatly tied cables resting on his bed. Every second, it grew closer—the moment he'd be able to escape his reality, and enter another.

* * *

Shino Asada wasn't a particularly lucky person. This random, but undoubtedly warranted thought crossed her mind as she stared at herself in the mirror. The rough lines on her cheek where creases on her pillow had left marks agreed; she'd stayed up fantastically late due to a mix of nervousness and excitement, only to have fallen asleep in an uncomfortable position early in the morning.

She cupped her hands under the small stream of cold water flowing from the faucet. Hoping to clear some of the drowsiness from her mind, she splashed her face to find out that the water was, in fact, a lot colder than she had realized. Opening her eyes wide with a small shriek, Shino quickly dried herself with a facecloth and shuffled out of the washroom, flopping onto a plush sofa in her two-room apartment.

She had been one of the many who hadn't been part of the beta, but had pre-ordered SAO. She'd waited close to a month to finally be able to play it. True to her unlucky nature, she'd planned to unbox and prepare everything on the morning of release, but that plan had been decidedly ruined.

Sighing, she pulled herself from her slumped position on the sofa to walk to the nearest counter, where she'd haphazardly left an X-ACTO knife a few days beforehand. She had about half an hour; the servers went live at 1:00 PM, and there were no doubt plenty of teenagers and adults alike anxious to log in to the virtual world. Stripping tape from the box, Shino glanced outside her window. She'd still been able to see the stars just before she'd fallen asleep, yet now she could only see the never-ending grey of rainclouds.

Her fingers on autopilot, Shino had managed to undo all the twist ties and insert the correct cables into the correct ports. Standing back from the desk she'd moved to, she surveyed the mess of wires connected to one single machine. It was almost a little scary, considering the amount of sheer technology she'd be wearing.

Taking a deep breath, Shino logged into her computer, and double-clicked the lone icon she'd left on her desktop. Then, laying down in a comfortable position on her bed, she gripped the clumsy device with both hands. Trying her best to gracefully push the helmet on without catching her ears, she winced as a seam in the plastic caught and pulled out a strand of hair.

Manually moving the neck brace into place, Shino let out a shaky breath. She hadn't realized it, but her heart beat so fast she swore it was rattling her ribcage. As her eyes wandered around the visor, she noticed the time, backup battery level and a few other indicators in the corner. _12:59._ One minute; it was now or never.

Remembering what the instructions she'd skimmed through had read, she managed a weak, "Link, start."

A faint hum began to emit from inside the NerveGear, and her mind began to reel. A feeling similar to fainting came over her, and her vision darkened until she was practically swimming in black spots. Her pulse quickened.

'Is this what's supposed to happen?' She wondered, resolving to pull the helmet off, only to find that she could no longer move her limbs. Suddenly, what seemed like a blinding white light expanded from the center of the sea of black dots to fill her vision. Then, a flood of coloured beams rushed towards her—she felt as if she were accelerating straight ahead. If her arms hadn't been paralyzed at her sides, she would've raised them in an attempt to protect herself. A few more animations appeared to inform her that all of her senses were working correctly.

Finally, after a body-calibration process, she arrived at the dark calm of SAO's character creation screen. Mellow ambient music played in the background, while a decently realistic version of her body stood mostly naked, staring back at her. It took tilting her head twice for Shino to realize that she was looking at a reflection of herself. Two things occurred to her. One—this was an extremely well-done character creation menu. Two—she really wanted blue eyes. Oh, and blue hair.

* * *

Kazuto—or, Kirito, as he was now known as, had never taken much pleasure in just standing outside in the sunlight. Except, that was in the real world. Ironically, he relished in the feeling of the virtual sun warming him to his core and the light breeze, preventing his skin from becoming too hot. The ambient temperature had been adjusted ever-so-slightly from the beta, where it'd been a tad too warm for his tastes. Now, it was just right.

Kirito smiled—that just meant he'd be more readily able to kick ass.

The starting clothing, from what Kirito could tell, only felt scratchier and more uncomfortable. The shirt was a sort of navy blue v-neck with long sleeves, in a medieval style. The pants couldn't be called much more than trousers in a canvas-like colour. The rough leather boots had thin soles that pretty much allowed him to feel most of the bumps in the road.

His spirits high regardless, Kirito confidently marched out of the starting plaza, where hundreds, maybe even thousands of new players stared at their hands or legs in awe. He ignored the shops with NPC merchants calling out to advertise their wares; the starting sword was more than enough to last him until he received the [Anneal Blade] from a quest.

A lock of hair fell into his eyes, prompting him to attempt to blow it to the side with a well-placed breath. He'd almost forgotten how long the hair of his avatar was; he'd quickly realized it was a hassle to have long hair in the beta, yet he'd been in such a rush to play the game that he hadn't changed it.

As soon as he'd strode out of the Town of Beginning's invisible border, he reached an arm behind him and drew his sword. It was something of a simple European arming sword—a double-edged blade with a no-frills guard and a simple grip wrapped in dark leather. It'd been a decent period of time since he'd last held that particular blade; it was the instrument of destruction with which he'd wreaked… well, a whole lot of nothing. As soon as he'd finished the beta's combat tutorial, he'd acquired a new sword that dealt almost double the damage of his first. In a way, this would be a new experience for him, something he was eager to try.

Sword Art Online's combat system was mostly based on a series of [Sword Skills], which practically moved the player's body for them. Blocking, parrying and basic attacks/combos could be done by oneself. However, they usually lacked damage and finesse. Compounding the issue, most system sword skills were actually faster than a human could actually move. Kirito assumed, however, that once a player levelled up enough to max out their Agility skill, they might be able to execute similarly fast combos. These [Sword Skills] were also double-edged swords in the way that if a player missed or was parried, they would suffer a small penalty. This penalty came in the form of a small window of time in which that player was frozen in place, vulnerable to any sort of attack.

Kirito had always admired the style of one-handed swordsmen and had thus become one himself. In addition to being one of, if not the most versatile style of swordsmanship, it also ended up being the cheapest. After all, his gear was simple to upgrade, as well as the fact that he just had less of it.

The rolling fields outside the town's gates were just as full of [Frenzy Boars] as they had been in the beta. As much as he loved playing the game, the next few hours would best be described as "farming." He wouldn't have to execute any sword skill more complicated than a simple [Slant], and the rewards would be small.

Kirito didn't really have any issues with being a farmer.

The first [Horizontal] came easy as always. A simple activation pose, and the sword seemed to rip away from his body at incredible speed in a wide arc in front of him. His sword cleaved clean through a boar in mid-jump, scattering small polygonal crystals through the air. Dismissing the small rewards window that popped up in front of him, Kirito became aware of a distinctly male voice, screaming for mercy in the distance.

Kirito had long since gotten over the frustration of not being able to see the usernames of other players. In fact, he almost no longer felt awkward just yelling at people with whatever pronoun, noun or adjective best suited their appearance.

In this case, that just so happened to be— "Hey man, what the hell are you screaming for?"

The redhead could do nothing but keep yelling incoherent phrases and curses at the pig that had knocked him down. A simple long knife lay in the grass about a meter away.

Not even bothering to activate a sword skill, Kirito sliced the mob in two.

It took a moment for the grounded player to realize that the boar was no longer slobbering all over his face, and he quickly stood up to pat the dust off of himself. "Thanks, pal! I thought I was a goner!"

Kirito rolled his eyes. "These are the weakest enemies in the game, yeah?"

"Are you serious?" The other player's eyes widened, as if he genuinely believed— "I thought these were like, mid-level field bosses or something… I guess that explains why there're so many of them running around, huh?" After a brief silence, he held out his hand. "Name's Klein. Nice to meet you."

Not used to the social contact, Kirito awkwardly grasped Klein's hand and shook. He noticed that Klein's fiery red hair was a deal longer than his own. Maybe he should give the other player the benefit of doubt and blame his lack of skill on his obviously distracting hair?

"I'm really a huge noob, and you look like you know what you're doing. Think ya could help a brother out?"

—Or not.

Seconds blurred into minutes, which in turn bled into hours as Kirito showed Klein the basics of SAO's combat, as well as a few tricks he'd learned from the beta. In fact, it took one of them glancing at their exceptionally long shadows to realize that the sun had almost completely set behind the islands floating in the distance.

Falling into a cross-legged position on the grass, Klein swiped his menu open to check the time. _6:53_.

"Hey Kirito, thanks a ton for everything you showed me today!" Klein stretched his arms behind his head, flexing virtual muscles.

Kirito planted a hand on his hip, staring at a waterfall on one of the distant floating islands as the water fell into abyss.

"No problem," he said. Gesturing around them, he continued, "This world really is amazing."

"I hear you." Klein replied. "I didn't think I'd ever be able to do anything like this in my lifetime. And yet here I am, huh?"

"Back during the beta, I sometimes felt more alive in here than I ever did in the real life. Weird, huh?"

Klein chuckled. "A teen like you? I guess I can see something like that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Demanded Kirito, frowning.

Klein's chuckle became a full-blown laugh. "Nothing, man. Nothing at all. Anyway, I've got a pizza coming in about five minutes. Thanks again!"

Ignoring Klein's last comment, Kirito was the one to hold out his hand this time. "It was a pleasure."

After a firm shake, Klein turned and swiped his fingers down to bring out the menu.

Upon Kirito hearing several clicks and swipes, indicating that Klein was lost. In the menu. "Need any help?" Kirito intoned, a hint of mockery in his voice.

"Uh, yeah, actually… Isn't there supposed to be a log-out button right… Here?"

Kirito looked over Klein's shoulder to see Klein pointing at an empty box on the menu. His heart dropped into his stomach—there _was_ supposed to be a log-out button in that spot.

Supressing the nervous energy in his stomach, he spoke in a shaky voice, "I'm sure it's just a bug. The GMs will probably fix it in the next half an hour or something."

Klein opened his mouth—presumably to complain about his pizza. However, he was interrupted as his avatar erupted in the blue fire of teleportation. The next thing Kirito knew; he'd also been teleported—to the central plaza in the Town of Beginnings.

* * *

One red hexagonal tile appeared in the sky. Then another, and another, until the dreamy blue had been overlaid completely by translucent red. From between these tiles, a dark-red liquid seeped forth, and Kirito had to hold back the urge to gag when he realized it must've been blood.

The blood slowly congealed into a large hooded robe several times larger than the plaza itself, hanging in the sky. An ominous indigo mist flowed from the hood, implying a sort of evil presence.

"Welcome, players!" A deep, booming voice exclaimed, while the robed figure spread its gloved hands, "I am Akihiko Kayaba, creator of this world."

Gasps echoed through the silence. _THE Akihiko Kayaba?_

"By now, you all must have noticed that something is missing from your menus. This is not a defect of the game. In fact, this is a feature of the game."

Once again, the otherwise silent plaza broke out in various inhumane noises and growls. Some players whispered angrily to each other. Kirito, on the other hand, remained silent. He couldn't comprehend what he'd just been told.

'Feature? What the fuck does that mean?' Was the only thought he could make out, feeling as if the world was spinning.

"You cannot log out by yourselves, and no one on the outside can remove or shut down the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave that _will_ destroy your brain and end your life."

Yells and screams of _WHAT?!_ Echoed through the crowd, with equally as many people staying silent, desperate to believe that this was all a joke.

"He's gotta be joking, right Kirito?" Klein looked to him hopefully.

Kirito almost regretted reading all of those technical specs. "It's true that the NerveGear works by emitting microwaves… With the safety off, it definitely could fry a brain."

"No way…" Was Klein's dumbfounded reaction. "But couldn't we just cut the power?"

"No, the NerveGear's got an internal battery."

"But, this is crazy! Won't someo-"

Klein was cut off by the game's creator. "Several players' friends and families have ignored this warning. As a result, these players are no longer alive. In this world, as well as the real world."

"I don't believe this. I refuse!" Klein shook his head, glaring at the seemingly empty robe.

"I hope you can relax and try to clear the game. However, I want you all to remember. There is no longer any way to revive anyone in the game."

Kirito's head swam with anger. 'What does he mean?'

"If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be lost forever. Simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain."

His, and ten thousand other pairs of eyes widened. Kirito imagined all the times he'd let a simple frenzy boar get the better of him. Every single one of those times… He'd be dead for real!

"There is only one means of escape: To complete the game. You are currently on Aincrad's first floor. Defeat the floor boss, and you may advance to the next level. Do this for all 100 floors, and you will have cleared the game."

More outraged cries erupted from the crowd.

"Clear the game? That's impossible!"

"The beta testers never made it anywhere that high!"

Akihiko Kayaba raised his hand for silence. "Finally, I've added an item to all of your personal storages as a gift. Please see for yourself. Good luck, players."

And with that, the hood, the robe and the gloves melted back into a deep blood-red. Liquid defied gravity and receded into the sky, and like that, Akihiko Kayaba was gone.

* * *

 **A/N:** Le sigh, looks like I'm back at it again. This is, well, chapter 1 unedited other than by just me. (Because I'm not sure my old editor is still alive.) Everything I've ever done has led up to this- not really. Anyway, I had a few plans for this rewrite, but then I thought: Why spoil all the fun? It'll still be Sinoto of course, but just more of, well, everything else. I still don't have very much time to write, so don't expect updates to come quickly, heh. Not much more to say, I guess. How does it compare to the original?

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed!

Until next time,  
-TheSilentSwordsman


	2. II: Brave New World

II

Brave New World

* * *

 _And with that, the hood, the robe and the gloves melted back into a deep blood-red. Liquid defied gravity and receded into the sky, and like that, Akihiko Kayaba was gone._

* * *

Sinon opened her eyes, trying to rub the bleariness away. Mildly annoyed that her alarm clock hadn't woken her up like it was supposed to, she rolled over lazily with half a mind to grab the damn thing, her palm instead striking the edge of a hard, wooden surface. The pin-pricking pain that followed shocked her fully awake. She sat up abruptly, holding a hand up to her eyes to block the sunlight streaming through the small window of her inn room. The girl scowled, ashamed that she'd forgotten her situation even for a moment.

The game was nothing, if not realistic.

Hell, if it was a weekday, she might've tried to shuffle to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Sinon's scowl deepened as she realized that there was a decent possibility that she'd forget how to complete such mundane tasks in the time it took to clear the game. It wasn't reassuring, to say the least.

Soon after Akihiko Kayaba had delivered his speech, the gathered players turned into an amorphous mob of motionless NPCs, most of them staring at the sky where the sole GM turned into a dark red ooze and disappeared into nothing. Personally, she had been one of the few people that hadn't panicked in light of the announcement; Sinon simply didn't have it in her to lose her cool under pressure.

After she'd witnessed the effects of the "Looking Glass" firsthand, Sinon had decided to keep her blue hair and prioritized exiting the plaza immediately; she didn't want or need to be in the middle of the impending storm. As expected, a few try-hard players (almost all of them being beta testers) took the initiative and ran to the fields outside the town, presumably to milk whatever EXP points they could out of the mobs there. Not being an avid RPG player herself, Sinon decided against said course of action. She had no equipment whatsoever and as such, fighting right out of the gate, so to speak, was simply not an option.

Finding herself downstairs in the inn's breakfast area, she noticed the NPC innkeeper throwing her a friendly wave. Sinon waved back before berating herself, realizing that she'd just waved to a computer program. She pushed through the single door and onto the street, her eyes widening a little upon seeing how busy it was. Despite herself, she couldn't help but shudder slightly as the sun warmed her skin. Judging by the long shadows, the various merchant stands cast along with the smell of dew in the air, it was still early in the morning. It was almost believable that she had actually stumbled out of her overbearing school life and into a medieval world of swords and steel. Almost.

 _Although_ , Sinon surmised with a dry smile, _that was the point, wasn't it?_

As she was not exactly one to stare in awe with her mouth agape, Sinon began to look through the wares of the different merchants. Her eyebrows furrowed and she found herself thoughtfully humming, trying to understand the difference between "Slash," "Puncture" and "Impact" damage.

The innkeeper had stopped serving breakfast just before she returned. A shame too, considering that Sinon hadn't eaten anything. While one didn't necessarily need to eat to sustain themselves in this world, the sensation of hunger would get stronger as time went by, should the player refuse to eat. Deciding she could always buy a meal later in the day, she returned to her room. Sinon had never really been materialistic, but she found the urge to examine her recent acquisitions, if not only to guarantee their quality.

And so, laid out on her bed, were a short sword forged from bronze and its simple black sheath, harshly reflecting the sunlight. Along with these, a basic, wooden hunter's bow she'd bought on impulse and a small quiver with about 15 arrows with dull, rough heads to match. Satisfied that she at least wouldn't be defenseless when she decided to leave the safety of the town, Sinon begun warming one of many plain buns she'd bought. She didn't like having to go into her reserve so quickly, but screw trying to ask the NPC for food. It would probably just give her some stupid quest.

Upon pulling the bun out of oven, Sinon tore a piece off it and tossed it into her mouth. _Cream,_ she thought, _it could definitely use some cream._

With a flick of the wrist, she opened her character profile. In the top right, the digital timer displayed "10:36 AM". The NPC wouldn't serve an actual lunch until around 1 PM, so if she wanted to go exploring, now it was a good time.

She swiftly picked up the weaponry she'd just purchased and walked towards the door. But as her hand grabbed the doorknob, she hesitated, recalling something she'd seen in the menu. Opening it again, she narrowed her eyes at the last option on the page: Pain Absorber. It had been greyed out, signalling that it, like the log-out button, were no longer functions of the game. Originally, of course, it had allowed players to control the level of pain they felt, from a light tickle to full-blown agony.

But she couldn't back down now. Even if pain was accurately simulated as well, surrendering would mean she had to stay here and cower until someone else cleared the game. She would have to be the damsel in distress.

The teen ground her teeth at that thought. She would never allow herself to stoop so low. So what if she was a complete novice? Learning the game was never meant to be easy anyway.

Her eyes shone with determination. She could do it after all.

* * *

The fatigue from fighting non-stop for the last two or so hours had finally caught up to her. Sinon's grip on the bronze sword she held had loosened quite a bit, though she seemed to be having better luck with the sword that way. With a quick sweep of her hand, Sinon subconsciously attempted to wipe her forehead from sweat, her hand coming away completely dry.

After taking a deep breath, she prepared for another [Horizontal]. In other words, a side-to-side sword slash. The execution was rather sloppy, as her slash was poorly timed, but the boar she'd struck with it let out a pained screech before dissipating. She sheathed her sword, rolling her shoulder under the uncomfortable beginner-class breastplate.

As she walked into a clearing in the forest she'd found herself in, Sinon lost herself in thought. She wouldn't have been surprised if she'd gotten lost wandering the fields outside the Town of Beginnings half-grinding, half-exploring. Sword Art Online truly was massive—for the time she'd spent out there, she was still seeing new forests, lakes and paths all around her. In fact, she—

 _SMACK!_

Shocked, Sinon flew for a foot before landing on her back, heaving all the air from her lungs. Her attention elsewhere, a boar had seen her, stopped, charged and hit the girl; all without her noticing. Luckily, charging itself was more of a crowd control effect than anything. However, they also had follow-up attacks on downed enemies that _did_ do quite a lot of damage—something Sinon wasn't sure she could take head on.

The boar approached quickly, its tusks suddenly seeming sharpened to a fine point. With some rough calculating, she was safe to assume the boar wouldn't kill her instantly if she managed to stop it. She moved her arms to divert as much of the force from the boar's tusks coming down towards her as possible instead of the riskier move of trying to roll aside and get nailed by the monster. The downside was that it would hurt. A lot.

Sinon ground her teeth as the one tusk she'd failed to grab dug into her forearm, constantly draining health. The sensation of the tusk drilling into her arm overloaded her senses, making her almost scream in agony. Her right hand loosened, unable to ignore the pain. She was losing control over her body.

 _Damn it... it hurts..._

She looked at her injured forearm where small, red-coloured polygons were dropping from the wound, right before disappearing. The tusk had broken through the avatar's skin, piercing about a centimeter and a half into her arm.

Her right hand near-immediately released the boar and desperately grasped for her sheathed sword. The boar didn't miss that opportunity and begun swiveling its head, trying to pierce the girl's body again with the now-freed tusk.

"Shit!" she exclaimed, the monster lowering its head.

Her hand reached the sheath, pulling out the bronze sword. If her attack was too slow, Sinon knew that the boar would pierce her body, doing dangerously high amounts of damage.

 _Please, please, please..._

With all the strength she could muster, she shut her eyes tight and bet her life on that single attack. Her hand drove her sword deep inside the boar's neck, meeting surprisingly little resistance.

When she hesitantly opened her eyes again, the monster had already burst into millions of turquoise-coloured polygons. She'd survived the attack!

She immediately turned to look at her wounded forearm. It still hurt, but at least she was alive. Refilling her HP bar would close the wound completely anyway.

The teen let out a sigh of relief. Apparently, one strike in the neck was enough to kill a boar. Mentally noting it, she used her other hand to get up. She slowly made it, when she realized someone else was there as well.

The cyan-haired teen found herself looking at a boy clad in mostly basic armor, with a seemingly decent-level black coat. Said boy's hair almost obscured his eyes as he studied the rewards screen before him. He had an aura of discipline emanating off him; his eyes were akin to an eagle's, his hand professionally and swiftly sheathing the weapon.

Startled, Sinon said nothing. Was he the one who saved her? It _had_ seemed too good to be true that one thrust to the neck could've killed the boar.

Seemingly confirming that he'd received the drop he'd wanted, he yelled out. "Finally! Jesus _Christ_!"

Sinon yelped as he startled her; she hadn't exactly recovered from her recent ordeal.

"Sorry, I got a little excited." The swordsman hovered his gaze over her. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, a wry smile on his face.

Sinon mumbled a barely audible thanks, still unable to comprehend how lucky she had been just now.

The boy continued, oblivious to Sinon's silence. "What are you doing all the way out here? You look like a nice girl…"

This landed him sorely on Sinon's blacklist. A vein pulsed on her forehead, instantly pushing the image of a brave swordsman aside.

"Are you saying that I can't fend for myself because I'm a girl?"

He visibly deflated. "That's not what I meant!"

"Then what _did_ you mean?" Her voice came out with a little more malice than she'd intended, visibly taking the black-clad boy aback.

"I just meant, you remind me of... someone important." The boy trailed off and made a face, as if tasting something sour.

 _What kind of guy is he to just say something like that without batting an eye?_ Sinon's light blush was lost to the redness on her cheeks from the residual pain of the boar's earlier assault.

"And it's not that you're a girl, it's just I don't see much of anyone out this far—boy OR girl." He gestured around him with an open hand. Sinon noticed the acute lack of other players around them; she couldn't even hear the sounds of fighting in the forest around her anymore.

"Well, at any rate... Thanks for saving me." Sinon mumbled, looking at the ground. She was rather embarrassed to have had to rely on someone else for her own safety.

"Pardon?" The black-haired boy asked, a curious look on his face.

Feeling annoyance building up inside her, Sinon took a deep breath. "Thanks for saving me… uh, Kirito." She squinted at his health bar to see his username.

"Ah, no worries. Those things are a pain anyway. Sinon, correct?"

Sinon nodded.

"I guess I'll be seeing you around then. Later!" He turned and threw a wave over his shoulder before walking out of the clearing and disappearing into the forest.

It was then Sinon decided that she didn't actually dislike Kirito—something she tended to do with most boys. This wasn't to say that she liked him either, of course. But she'd at least give him a chance.

* * *

The next time she saw Kirito was about a week later. Sinon had been walking through the main street of the first floor's last town. She'd recognized him nearly instantly. His ruffled black hair, his almost lazy, casual walk; things that reminded her of her father, a thought that made her chest ache like her ribs had been bruised. Furthermore, nobody wore a black coat like that on one of the warmest floors in the middle of the day.

Sinon warded off a sigh. _Nobody but him, I guess._

No boy she'd ever known from school acted like he did. She realized that she'd begun to see males in a sort of dichotomy. They were either goofy and—it almost made her wince to think it—useless, or hopelessly serious and cold. Kirito didn't seem like either. Of course, if she were to actually have a conversation about it, she'd never say something like that.

Sinon blinked, realizing she was about six inches away from the taller boy in front of her, his eyebrows raised in surprise. She quickly stepped back in surprise, throwing her hands out a little to push him away.

"Jeez, sorry." Kirito muttered. He brightened his voice as he continued, teasing her. "Although, you were the one that almost walked into me."

Sinon took her previous thought back; Kirito was starting to lean towards the goofy side. Though, she supposed she should've apologized.

"No, I'm sorry. I forgot to watch where I was going." She spoke clearly, but quietly.

Kirito chuckled a little. "Don't worry about it. Speaking of forgetting, I'm actually back here to gather some supplies for a quest. I guess I kinda just got lost in thought walking around." It seemed like he was done talking, but he made no move to walk past her.

"Don't let me keep you from that, then." Sinon said politely, stepping to the side and striding forwards, intent on exploring the first floor's dungeon.

At least, that's what she tried to do. Before she could take even half a step forward, his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"I really have no clue how to ask this of you... But could you party up with me for this? Klein is busy with his guild, and—"

"Kirito," Sinon began, cutting off his rambling, "Who's Klein?"

"That's not important," he began again, quickly. "It's just that I have nobody else to ask and I..." He slowed, taking a breath. "I need help. Will you come?" He frowned, scrutinizing Sinon's face for any sign of a reaction.

The surprises just kept coming with him. It wasn't that she didn't want to go to see how he fought, but… accompanying someone who's barely acquaintance on her own?

"A-ah. I see… Well, I'm pretty busy grinding myself so I—"

"No worries, I get it." Kirito sighed lightly. "Seems I'll have to try and solo it then…"

Upon seeing the dejected look on his face, Sinon decided to continue, trying to at least save some face after her lame excuse. "Is it really worth trying that?"

"Well," He scratched his cheek, "Supposedly, each party member receives a special weapon of almost any kind. It's assumed to be a pretty hard mission, but I don't think the spawn rates and types of mobs change, regardless of the party's size."

That caught Sinon's interest. "How long would you need to complete a run? Alone, of course."

Kirito glanced at his quest notification window for a second. "Maybe an hour?"

Sinon hummed aloud. "If that's the case, then I should be able to make some time… Alright, I'll join you."

* * *

At least it wasn't so damned hot anymore. Sinon was somewhat of an indoors kind of person, and preferred an air-conditioned setting to a sun-dried one. However, unlike in the real world, she didn't have the luxury to choose where she spent most of her time.

Still, this was one of the last things she expected. They stood on the same floor, but the scenery had completely changed. A light layer of frost and fallen pine needles crunched under her feet as she and Kirito walked silently through the evergreen forest. The sun shone surprisingly brightly for what time it was, casting long shadows through the sparse, low-hanging branches of the pine trees.

Sinon had once seen a picture where a man had been sunburnt on the _bottom_ of his face, just from being out in the snow for too long. She'd never really understood how something like that was possible, living in one of the warmer areas of Japan. Now, though, even with only a thin layer of frost reflecting the sunlight back at her, leaving spots in her vision, she understood.

Speaking of one of the warmer areas, her lungs had never felt so free. Back in town, the air felt heavy and damp, as if it drained energy from her with each breath. Here, she breathed without effort, drawing crisp, cool air and letting out small white clouds.

"So?" Sinon spoke, breaking the silence.

"So what?" Kirito responded, lazily.

"We've been walking for a while now. Are you sure this is the right way?"

"Well, not particularly." Kirito turned and walked backwards before her, his hands clasped behind his neck. Sinon's jaw almost dropped at the unexpected honesty of his answer.

"But," He continued, "Nobody's been out here to map this area yet, so if it isn't, I'm not exactly the one to blame."

He muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "And if they haven't moved it…"

Kirito spun on his heel and once again resumed walking forwards, his coat billowing out around his calves, hands returning to his sides.

Sinon rolled her eyes. They'd emerged from the teleport gate into a rather small town—no, village. The quest they'd been assigned had only tasked them to investigate another village, deep in the Mountain Pass area of the first floor.

If she knew anything about games, vagueness like that was never a good sign.

What the NPC had been able to say told Kirito and Sinon that the settlement had been ransacked by bandits, and needed help in the rebuilding process. As if on cue, the two teenagers came to the edge of the forest, the clock tower of a small village peeking over the hill before them. A trail of smoke wafted through the sky and Sinon surmised that it probably wasn't from a chimney.

Her suspicions were confirmed when they fully crested the hill. The breeze that blew the hair away from her face also carried the heavy scent of wood smoke, obviously from the still-smoldering remnants of a small section of the village that had been burned. The rest of the village wasn't any better off; Sinon saw a number of collapsed roofs and crumbling walls.

Their next fifteen minutes were consumed searching for signs of survivors. Sifting through piles of rubble hadn't exactly been on her bucket list, though it did well to distract Sinon from the uncomfortable silence between her and the boy in black next to her. She bit her lip, hoping Kirito would say something to break it. He didn't.

Well, not until she sneezed, anyway. Kirito turned to her and rose an eyebrow, raising a silent question. In turn, Sinon looked down at her choice of dress.

She felt her face heat, though she was glad she could blame it on the cold weather. "What? I didn't know it would be actually cold!" She hissed, adding in a glare for effect.

Kirito chuckled, opening his inventory. A moment later, he held a fur cloak, moving to fasten it around her shoulders. Instead, Sinon took the cloak from his outstretched hand and threw it around her shoulders herself.

She mumbled something under her breath, though it produced more of a steam puff than it did a sound.

"You're welco— hmm…" Kirito frowned, his hand under a chunk of stone. When he pulled it out, it was holding a small bound journal. "This might be useful." He thought aloud.

Sinon bobbed her head in a slight nod, and the pair sat in the frost. Ignoring the seeping cold, Kirito opened the journal, noting the neat handwriting.

 _October 4_ _th_

 _It keeps getting worse. I can't fathom what kind of vile demon would create such a disease. It's almost as if it has a mind of its own, countering every kind of medicine we can procure._

 _Furthermore, no other town we've sent word to has heard of it. As much as it pains me to say, Father won't last much longer. I fear for my own safety, but alas, there is nowhere I can go._

Sinon looked up from the journal to see Kirito's brow furrowed.

 _At least half of the town has grown ill. Tenzo says to have faith, but I'm losing all hope. Is there anything that can save us?_

"Shit." Kirito breathed, seemingly finishing the entry at the same time Sinon had. "It's different."

"What's different?" Sinon questioned, getting up.

Kirito's eyes remained on the journal, as if scrutinizing every letter. "The quest. It's changed— I'm sorry. It might take longer than an hour."

"I—" She opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly couldn't find her breath. She became vaguely aware of a numb, cold sensation centered in the middle of her back. Then, her world exploded in pain.

* * *

 **A/N:** Yeah, it's been quite a long time, eh? My motivation to write is usually pretty sporadic; it comes and it goes, but once I start something I'll at least _try_ to finish it. I think this is the chapter I've spent editing for the longest; it took about a week and a half, and I couldn't have done it without the help of my good friend One More Guy. He actually ended up adding a few paragraphs here and there, so you have him to thank for the extra length. I know I should post longer chapters considering my long absences, but hey. At least they're not year-long.

So I've got some news: Don't Fear the Dark has been taken up by StriderM8, who will upload the next chapter soon. I'm pretty sure he'll do better than me, actually; I've never been good at uploading on a schedule. He's a lot more active and his writing is pretty solid! I can't wait to see where he takes it.

What else? I always feel like I have more to say in these author's notes, but I can never think of anything. Chapter 3 should come before the end of the year, and hopefully a lot sooner than that. I've already started on it, after all.

Until next time,

-TheSilentSwordsman


	3. III: Night Sky Sword

III

Night Sky Sword

* * *

 _She became vaguely aware of a numb, cold sensation centered in the middle of her back. Then, her world exploded in pain._

* * *

 _"Fear is an insidious and deadly thing. It can warp judgement, freeze reflexes and breed mistakes."_

A quote Kirito had once read, and certainly had long since forgotten. Yet, it had now just sprung into his mind.

Hearing a scream, Kirito watched, horrified, as the point of a long silver knife just barely poked through Sinon's stomach. His feet were glued to the ground; he couldn't move, couldn't feel his legs.

He cursed himself. It was a game. _A game._ And yet the sound of a knife sliding through flesh had seemed so real. The _scream_ had definitely been real.

One would think that he would've been spurred into action the moment his partner had been stabbed. No, it was the sound of her limp body falling to the ground. Somewhere inside him, he knew she wasn't dead. But that part of him was the last thing on his mind, as he finally drew a sword from the sheath on his back.

And yet with all of his rage, at some point between his drawing of the sword and his intended beheading of the adversary, he found himself looking into the face of a teen who couldn't have been older than 18. Unable to bring himself to kill, he settled for lunging forwards and slicing the bandit's arm off instead, earning Kirito a shrill screech as the bandit tumbled to the ground, disabled.

"Tch." Kirito activated his tracking ability, scanning his surroundings. Once he was satisfied with the lack of any more opponents, he knelt next to Sinon who lay curled up and breathing heavily on the ground.

"Sinon, stay with me." He spoke as calmly as he could, ignoring the shaking of his fingers as he set his sword on the frosted dirt.

"I-It just…" She growled, gritting her teeth. "It fucking _hurts!_ "

"I'll bet it does, what with that bastard Kayaba turning off the pain inhibitors," Kirito muttered, mostly to himself. He reached into one of the pockets on the inside of his coat, the cool glass of a bottle materializing in his fingers the moment he did so. "Drink this."

He turned Sinon over gently and poured the contents of the bottle into her mouth. She sighed and straightened as the effects of the healing potion instantly closed her wound and numbed her pain. Kirito watched intently as Sinon's health bar rose from its position in the low yellow to full green and disappear, signifying it was full.

"Come on, stand up." Kirito extended a hand as he rose to his feet. "There'll be more of them."

Back to back, Kirito rested his sword in an easy one-handed stance as Sinon brandished her smaller blade with a fervent vice-grip. She still swayed slightly from her recent ordeal with a dagger and the leftover phantom pains, but Kirito knew she'd be able to fight. He noted her posture, however. _She'll definitely need a little more than just the tutorial,_ he thought.

On cue, the dull pounding of footsteps on the hard-packed dirt under their feet filled their ears, and the jangle of loose metal grated their nerves. As haggard-looking men carrying assorted weapons filed into a loose circle around the teens, Kirito felt Sinon shift against his back.

"They're so… Lifelike."

Kirito could only agree with Sinon's statement. "Damn this game."

And with that last utterance, the floodgates broke open. Kirito lunged forward, feeling cold air rush into the space once occupied by the warmth of another person. Along with this, a flurry of sensory information flooded into his brain. The sound of a rusty blade whistling through the air. A flash of silver reflection. The smell of wood smoke and stale cigar smoke blending into an assault on his nose.

His arms and legs almost seemed to move of their own will, sidestepping a downwards chop while parrying a thrust aimed at his shoulder. Using the momentum of his sword to his advantage, Kirito swung the glinting blade behind his right hip. The glow of a system-assisted sword skill fell about the weapon and he felt his body lighten and move on a set track, whirling and slashing.

As three men fell around him groaning pitifully, Kirito turned and watched as Sinon jabbed an assailant's leg, causing him to fall onto one knee. Somewhat clumsily, she punched him in the face with her sword hand, inducing a deep sleep.

Just then, another bandit had sprung from the ruins behind her. "Sinon—!" Kirito warned, as her assailant closed in. By the providence of some god—or maybe sheer luck, Sinon spun around with her sword in hand, cutting a deep slice into the crook's thigh. As her attacker fell to the ground disabled, Sinon let loose a small yelp; she obviously hadn't been expecting to sink her sword into anything. Then, she seemed to look past him with an alarmed expression. "Kirito, you—!"

No sooner than then did Kirito feel a sharp edge at his throat. He cursed his own unawareness; he'd panicked watching Sinon, and hadn't heard the man standing behind him.

"That's right, don't move." The ragged voice of a chain-smoker spoke from behind Kirito. "You over there, don't try anything funny. I'll kill him, I swear!" Kirito frantically looked about for any method of escape, turning his head as much as he dared against the rough blade at his throat. Seeing that it was hopeless, he refocused his vision on Sinon, and instead was met by the red glint of the setting sun in dull metal. Sinon was looking at him, or rather, the man who held him captive, down the shaft of an arrow.

Kirito gulped. He hadn't even noticed when Sinon equipped her bow.

"Put it down, girl. I swear, I'll slit his throat!" The bandit screeched. Kirito knew it was only a matter of time before he'd have to get away somehow, or the AI would really slit his throat, regardless of what Sinon did.

A fiery determination in Sinon's eyes told Kirito that she, in fact, _wouldn't_ put the bow down. (And he liked to imagine that she probably didn't intend on letting him die, either.) The fact that she might kill him herself, however, was an interesting prospect. With a _twang!_ Of the bowstring, Sinon's arrow flew.

Kirito closed his eyes at that, hoping against hope that who he assumed was a beginner archer wouldn't hit him. The moment seemed to elongate, and the cold wind blew slower across his face.

His eyelids shot open when he felt a tickle at his hear. _Oh great, she's shot my ear off,_ was his first thought. Then, the pressure of the blade at his jugular loosened and a rough _thud_ could be heard behind him, prompting him to re-evaluate. It turned out that the tickle had been the fletching of the arrow, which he could now just barely see in his peripheral vision.

Kirito rose a hand to his neck, lightly grasping as if to make sure it was still there. While his HP reserve was already considerably high due to his near-constant levelling, having his throat slit was a critical enough hit that it possibly could've killed him. "That was too close. I'm seriously in your debt." He gave a nervous chuckle.

Sinon shouldered her bow and splayed her hands along with a tense shrug, as if to say, 'don't question it.'

"You did the same for me, so don't mention it."

She walked over and nudged the NPC with her foot, causing him to shift slightly. He groaned, a low sound from the back of his throat. As he did, she visibly relaxed, her shoulders slumping.

Kirito raised an eyebrow. He would, of course, never kill humans. Knowing they were just computer-generated programs, however, changed things. He'd never liked killing NPC humans in the beta; he felt as if his humanity were deteriorating somehow. And Kirito suspected that this was the reason so few of the quests in-game actually involved NPC human enemies. Even then, Kirito had rules when it came to actually killing these NPCs. The earlier boy had been a good example of those—though sometimes there weren't any logical explanations. His morals seemed worryingly fuzzy around subjects like human NPCs trying to kill him, even to himself.

Sinon didn't seem to be so different, he could see. Even given that these enemies weren't even real people, nor were they anywhere near good people, she was still glad to see she hadn't killed anyone. Somehow, he suspected that that was where their similarities in the matter ended. She probably wouldn't ever kill, even if it were an NPC out for her life. Wait—was he… analyzing her?

"What are you looking at me like that for?" Sinon raised an eyebrow at him.

"Uh… You're a good archer." Kirito mumbled, scrambling for words.

 _Stupid, stupid! Thank you, Captain Obvious!_

"Thanks…" She turned away from him to distribute EXP points, seemingly lost in some train of her own thoughts.

 _Now look. You've gone and creeped her out. Great job, Kirito._ He chastised himself, watching Sinon as she absentmindedly jabbed buttons in her menu. Deciding it would become unbearably awkward if he continued to stand and do nothing, Kirito also opened his menu to sort his items.

What seemed like hours later, the silence began to worry Kirito. He turned and snuck a peek at Sinon, who still had her back turned. Her hands were at her sides, clenched so tightly he was concerned she might start draining her HP.

"Sinon?"

She was quick to unclench her fists and close her menu.

"What is it, Kirito?" He noticed that her voice shook, ever so slightly.

Out of respect for her privacy, he abstained from mentioning it. "We should try to trigger the next quest checkpoint."

"Right."

 _Was it something that happened? Maybe she's having a stomach-ache… Is that even possible?_ Kirito thought to himself, taken a little by surprise at the sudden change in his party-mate's demeanor. Could it be that she was one of those shy yet brusque types? He'd read about girls like that in manga before—he just didn't think he'd ever meet one.

A system chime brought Kirito out of his thoughts; the next quest checkpoint had just activated.

He felt something grip his ankle (which gave the poor nurse currently tending to his body in the hospital room he occupied quite a fright as his heartrate spiked). Before he had the chance to yelp, he heard a voice speak from behind him, on the ground. "You've done it now…" The boy from earlier scratched out, red pixels still floating from his shoulder-stump. "It's attracted to the smell of blood…"

With that, the groaning bandits around Kirito and Sinon shattered like glass—though unlike the regular blue pixels, they dissolved into yellow: a signal that they were no longer needed by the quest.

"Get ready…" Kirito mumbled, to which Sinon replied with a terse nod.

The wind blew, whistling through the trees on the perimeter of the town. At this point, the sun had long since set, leaving the two teens illuminated by the glowing coals of the recently-burnt buildings and the soft white light from the unnaturally bright stars overhead.

Both Kirito and Sinon's heads snapped to the sound of a few loose coals rolling from the top of the nearest smoking heap. Argus certainly had designed the game with _atmosphere_ in mind.

All around them, coals started tumbling from the remains of the buildings. With a start, Kirito felt the ground begin to rumble under his feet. Soon enough, he could hear something monstrous as well. It sounded like… an earthquake?

 _Shit._ He realized it too late, and it was all he could do to grab Sinon and put all of his STR stat into a high leap backwards. In that moment, his senses were filled with more information than he could possibly process. Sinon shrieked, and the ground where they had been standing exploded into a cloud of dust with a full accompaniment of dirt chunks raining from the sky. He felt the sudden gust of cold from gaining about 15 meters of altitude so rapidly, and his HUD lit up with a title accompanied by two health bars.

'FIELD BOSS: HORRIBLE AMALGAMATION'

Just as quickly as they had launched into the sky, they were back on solid ground. Sinon quickly pushed himself away from Kirito, and it was a good thing, too. He might've squeezed the life out of her if she hadn't, because of what he saw next.

As the dust cleared, Kirito could make out a vaguely humanoid figure, at least quadruple in size compared to the largest man he'd ever seen. His stomach turned. The being was covered in unnatural growths of pulsating flesh, with a viscous dark red liquid dripping from various bones that poked from various places on its body. It wasn't too hard to decipher what that liquid could have been. The creature's most unsettling feature was its undeniably human face. And even though it was obviously a human face, it had distorted beyond disgustingly. The whole thing had been removed of any bones, and it was stretched so far that the nose had become a flat section of skin with two holes in it. The poor man's mouth hadn't fared much better, having been torn at the corners. From it came nauseating gurgling and foaming noises, as if the creature was having trouble breathing.

"Oh, god." Sinon muttered, a hand over her mouth. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"…" Kirito's jaw clenched, with him unable to find words.

The creature didn't let them gawk for long, as it moved with surprising speed to grab at Sinon, who jumped back to narrowly avoid a glancing blow.

Shaken out of his stupor, Kirito sliced the creature's massive arm open. He was hit with a stench like he'd never known—the closest thing to that he could remember was walking by decomposing roadkill one day on the way back from school. His reaction this time was quite similar to then—he retched, and pushed back _hard_ , to stumble to where Sinon stood.

"That smells absolutely _disgusting_." Kirito spat, putting particular emphasis on that last word.

Sinon had her bow drawn, a newfound look of steely determination scrunching her pretty features into the face of a woman he never wanted to piss off. "Go on—I'll keep the big guy's focus off of you. I don't think I need to tell you what'll happen if you get hit by that thing."

Kirito blinked, unused to being ordered around. "Yes, ma'am."

With that, Kirito brandished his sword and ran towards the hideous beast. Yes, 'Horrible Amalgamation' was quite a fitting name.

* * *

The next thirty minutes felt like eternity. It had been relatively easy to learn the boss's attack patterns—disgusting creature or not, they were still playing a game. While Kirito hated to admit it, SAO's rules were fundamentally fair. Field bosses, while having a large health pool and a substantial _shock & awe_ factor, would never be as hard to kill as even a group of high level dungeon mobs from the same floor. Still, the boss probably hadn't been designed for a two-player party—the quest's difficulty was "Hard" afterall.

Sinon fired a final volley of arrows, and the creature's attack pattern halted. It made a last pained groan, reverberating the ground as it did so. Stiffening its back, the creature exploded into a shower of crystals.

Thankfully, the smell the creature had given off dissipated quickly, as well; Kirito never thought he could love the smell of wood smoke as much as he did then.

"Kirito?" Sinon called to him, eyeing her results screen. "Come look at this."

"Sure thing," Kirito muttered, swiping his own results screen aside as he walked over. Sinon held a note, seemingly one of the items the field boss had dropped.

 _October 8_ _th_

 _Well, it looks like this is the end. Despite our best efforts, the parasite has taken most of the villagers. My father, and even my younger sister… Gone. We tried everything. Scrubbed the whole town with lye. When that didn't work, we even turned to fire. There was only one building we couldn't bring ourselves to burn—the armory. None of the infected have been inside anyway._

Kirito started to put the pieces together, continuing from the last note. Some sort of parasite had swept through the village, killing and mutating the villagers. The fire had probably worked to some degree… But it hadn't been completely successful. Most likely, Tenzo was the only one that had enough time to mutate as far as he had.

 _I'm the last one. It's a little surreal, looking around and realizing that everyone is… well… dead. And as much as it scares me to admit it, I won't be around for long anymore either. I guess I'm just writing this note so that somehow, one day, if anyone reads this, maybe we won't be forgotten. Just the ramblings of a dead man, I guess. I hope it's painless._

 _Tenzo_

Kirito looked up from the creased parchment as Sinon sucked a breath in through her teeth.

"They worked hard on this game." Sinon noted, mutedly.

Kirito laughed bitterly. "At least we have that much."

Sinon sighed, "we also have those rare weapons, now. Let's find the armoury."

Sinon folded the parchment, and it automatically stored itself into her inventory. Slowly, they made their way to the town's final standing building. Kirito noted that the glowing coals from an adjacent pile of rubble were dangerously close to a haystack next to the armoury; he suspected that this was how the game would prevent them from taking more than one item.

As they stepped inside, Kirito found himself shocked at the variety of weapons the walls held. The information brokers hadn't lied—one unique weapon of every variety sat on a shelf or a stand. Sinon made a straight beeline for the longbow at the far end of the room, having found her home territory in archery. Meanwhile, Kirito's attention gravitated towards an anodized black longsword sitting along the wall closest to him, the [Night Sky Sword].

As he plucked it off the wall, he examined its stats. _This will definitely do._ He thought, with an appreciative whistle. No sooner than Sinon removed the bow that had caught her eye from its place on wall, Kirito heard the sound of a fire crackling outside. It was time to leave.

"You know, you're going to have to raise your STR stat pretty high to do max damage with that longbow." Kirito revealed, once they were safely outside. Sinon eyed him quizzically.

"Huh," she murmured, as if she hadn't considered the possibility. "Well, Kirito. This is where we split, right?"

"H-huh? You don't wanna take the trip back together?" Kirito questioned, genuinely confused.

Sinon pulled a teleport crystal from one of her waist pouches, and waved it in front of his face a little. "I'll just use this. It's already extremely late, and I'm dead on my feet."

"Well—" Kirito began, but he was cut off before he could finish his thought.

"Thank you for letting me join you, Kirito. I'll be going now, bye." And with that, she uttered the activation words for her teleport crystal and disappeared into the blue.

Kirito sighed, somewhat disappointed by the lame farewell. He would have to lecture Sinon about being conservative with teleport crystals the next time he saw her. Something in the back of his mind still nagged him about Sinon's coldness; had he just been imagining it? He would never understand women.

 _Damn. She still has my cold weather cloak._ And with that thought, Kirito began to trudge towards the teleport gate the pair had come from, tracking fresh prints in the snow as the stars glittered above.

* * *

Taking his combat boots off and floating slowly to the floor was a feeling Kirito would never get used to, yet he looked forward to it most after returning to his inn room from a day of grinding.

Luckily, changing clothes in SAO didn't involve actually moving, as he was, to quote Sinon, dead on his feet. With his new sword safely nestled in his inventory, he rolled onto the lumpy mattress in his room and sighed into the pillow, almost instantly falling asleep.

It felt as if he had only been unconscious for a few moments when he was awoken by a scream that made his blood freeze solid in his veins.

* * *

 **A/N:** Yeah, it's been a long time. I feel like I should walk you guys through a little bit of the process I went through in writing this chapter, just so that maybe you can forgive me for the hella long wait. So basically, I finished most of this chapter back in November-December of last year. I really didn't know what I wanted to do with the whole combat situation. I knew that I really needed some character development in there as well, but there was a constant nagging feeling that I had already developed Sinon too much in the direction of a generic girl with some big secret, which I really didn't like. I have a plan now, so I hope the next few chapters come a little easier. I also kinda had a crisis with Kirito's character. In the anime and everything, he feels like a thoughtless noble knight in shining armour, with weaknesses few and _very_ far inbetween. In the end, I decided to portray him as more of a regular gamer guy that just tries to be a nice person. I guess I can model him off of a mix of characters I know and myself, so he shouldn't be too hard to write in the future. Anyway, since this chapter involved so many considerations for me, it took a really long time. And to be honest, I know you guys probably don't enjoy chapters like this as much as the fluffy ones I write. I know I don't like writing these as much, but at the same time, it's always been my philosophy that a story with just fluff and no substance isn't much better than no story at all. After all, we can all imagine some sort of steamy makeout scene involving our two favourite characters, can't we?

Another problem has been school. Wow, school has been really rough, especially with the amount of exams this year. I'm sure you senior-years out there all know what I'm talking about! Now that summer is on the way, I want to get out like... One or two chapters. That'd be great, wouldn't it?

Anyway, this chapter was completely proofread and edited by yours truly. I genuinely think there's a quality difference compared to back when One More Guy would review my stuff. Given, I haven't even logged into Skype to see if he's still alive, so if you end up reading this, let me know if you're still willing to help me proofread! In the meantime, I'll officially be recruiting betas! The thing is, if you want to beta for me, you'll probably have to deal with my extreme sporadicity. Is anyone I used to know back when I wrote often still on this site? Damn, it's been a long time.

So yeah, the next chapter is probably gonna be a lot fluffier. I know I said I liked substance, but don't you guys think it's about time for some love for the dynamic between our swordsman and archer? I certainly do. I look forward to uploading that as well.

Until next time,

-TheSilentSwordsman

P.S. Wow, this thing has gotten over 2000 views as I've just left it sitting. I feel bad.


	4. IV: Jerk

IV

Jerk

* * *

 _It felt as if he had only been unconscious for a few moments when he was awoken by a scream that made his blood freeze solid in his veins._

* * *

Sinon sat bolt upright so fast she thought she might've given herself whiplash. Her breathing came heavily, and her brow prickled with a feeling akin to her body desperately trying to sweat, but not being able to. It took her a good minute to realize that the scream which had woken her up was her own.

One of Sinon's largest motivations for buying a NerveGear was the unspoken assumption that it would prevent a person from dreaming. After all, how would one dream if all of their senses were controlled by external factors other than their brain alone?

It appeared, sadly, that this assumption had been wrong.

Sinon frowned, a sour taste in her mouth. In the end, the NerveGear hadn't brought a single ounce of benefit into her life. Even the novelty of being able to escape from her haunting yet mundane reality into a virtual one was wearing off. What was the point, when her demons would follow her anyway?

It was still dark—that was probably the reason Sinon hadn't noticed she was crying until a large droplet fell unceremoniously off of her cheek and splashed onto her hand, still clutching the covers. She quickly wiped her face with the rough sleeves of her shirt.

The nightmare had been as vivid as ever. Just imagining it made her shudder and feel nauseous.

Knowing she wouldn't get any more sleep that night, Sinon tapped the base of the lamp on her nightstand to turn it on. Surprisingly, her eyes had no urge to close of their own accord, even though she should've still been feeling groggy.

In the bathroom, Sinon was shocked by her reflection. Every time she'd woken up from a nightmare like that in real life, she'd walk into the washroom to find herself a mess—her hair would be tangled and matted with sweat. Instead, she looked completely fine, if not for the tears streaming down her face.

She spent the next several minutes desperately trying to stifle her tears, finding that it was infinitely harder than it was in real life. It only made her want to leave the virtual world more.

Just as her tears stopped-her timing couldn't have been better-she heard a knock at her door.

"Sinon?" A voice spoke through the door. It was Kirito.

She gave a small resigned smile, if only to herself. Who would've been able to find their way to a defenseless girl's inn room upon only hearing her scream? _Nobody but him, I guess._

Sinon moved towards the door. Without opening it, she spoke softly to Kirito, who no doubt stood anxiously waiting for her on the other side.

"Hey, Kirito." She cringed a little bit at how weak and sleepy her voice sounded. "What brings you here at this hour?"

"I just heard a scream, and I thought it might've been you. Can I come in?"

"It wasn't me, no," Sinon lied, biting her lip. She knew just as well as he that she wasn't fooling him, so the question was: did she need somebody to talk to?

Kirito wasn't dumb, though. "Well… since I'm here, can I get my cold weather cloak back?"

Sinon cursed internally. She'd completely forgotten about it—having been so affected by last night's events, she'd come into her inn room and just hung it up without a second thought.

Sinon sighed and opened the door.

Kirito was quick to enter—he'd been standing in the hall long enough for the stares of nearby players to feel unwelcoming.

"Apologies for the intrusion…" He uttered, before eyeing Sinon in her current state. She was wearing a shirt and a pair of long pyjama pants—and suddenly felt very exposed regardless.

Kirito didn't say anything further, but his expression betrayed sympathy.

Sinon left the door frame to sit on her bed. During the short walk, she noticed the artificial moon of the first floor still shining brightly overhead, casting a soft white glow through the window.

"Are you okay?" Was the next question Kirito asked, and Sinon felt some of the awkwardness hanging in the room dissipate.

"Yeah, I guess. It was just a—"

"Nightmare?" Kirito finished, as he walked towards the coat hanger.

"That." Sinon confirmed, as Kirito retrieved his cold weather cloak. In doing so, he had moved more into the light her nightstand lamp cast, allowing her to see the black casual clothes he had on. Somehow, it made him seem a lot more approachable than the highly skilled combatant she had seen the day before.

Kirito sighed, as if it was a situation he'd dealt with before. He stiffly gestured at the bed next to her, as if to ask permission to sit.

Sinon nodded. She'd feel bad making him stand, since it didn't look like he was leaving any time soon.

Kirito sat a good foot away from Sinon, looking at the ceiling, as if trying to trying to formulate his next words. "I get some pretty freaky nightmares sometimes, too. The flavour of the week has been a terrible car crash." Kirito started and finished his sentence abruptly, and Sinon got the distinct feeling he was forcing himself to speak.

"I just can't get it out of my head. Maybe it's this virtual world doing weird things to my sense of life and death."

He didn't seem to be leaving much room for Sinon to have a word in the conversation. "Maybe." She interjected, half paying attention to his words, half mildly amused at his brash attempt to help her feel better.

"They're scary," He continued, and Sinon vaguely registered that he meant nightmares, "but we can move past them. Most of the time, they're just our minds twisting things up. Actually, I read once that most nightmares are just manifestations of real life issues, but they're not even related. Like, if you dream you're falling-"

"Kirito…" Sinon warned. The boy's face, previously animated in his matter-of-fact recounting shifted to an awkward mask as he remembered why he was talking in the first place.

"Sorry, I uh..." He chuckled nervously and threw a weak smile in her direction. "I guess I'm not good at this kind of thing. Cheering people up, I mean."

 _That's probably what I would've said as we-_ Sinon's thoughts stopped in their tracks, realizing how rude it would've sounded if she had actually said that.

Sinon smiled. "Well, you're not terrible. Maybe a little goofy, though."

Kirito looked at her with a somewhat pained look, suggesting he was unsure whether he should smile or frown. "My sister always said that… I'm still not sure whether it's a good thing or not."

Sinon elected not to answer. Although, she did have to admit-it was endearing.

"When we first met… Was the person you said I reminded you of your sister?" Sinon asked, fully aware it was a stretch. Still, she had a hunch.

Kirito scratched his cheek, chuckling lightly. "Well, I call her my sister, but… She's really my cousin. Don't ask for an explanation—it's a... touchy situation."

Sinon couldn't contain her soft giggle. "Does this happen often?"

"What, you mean having a cousin for a sister? Well, I guess not, but if you meant someone asking about my sister and me having to explain? Well, I think it'd happen more if people actually knew. I mean, I didn't until-"

"Kirito," Sinon interrupted, a smile playing on her face. "You're rambling again."

"Right. I'm tired, sorry." Kirito shut his mouth, as if to make sure he couldn't speak anymore.

For a while, the two sat in comfortable silence. Left to her own thoughts, Sinon wondered if this was what having a true friend would be like. Maybe she _had_ needed to talk to someone.

The few seconds of silence grew to a few minutes, and it wasn't long before Sinon heard a soft thump beside her, shaking her out of her musings.

The sight of a peacefully sleeping Kirito greeted her the moment she turned to look. He actually had the audacity to fall asleep in her room, on her bed! His legs still hanging off the edge of the bed, Kirito lay widthwise across the mattress, all but rendering it unusable for Sinon.

 _But I can't really get angry at that cute, childish face…_ Sinon thought, noting Kirito's innocent expression in his sleep.

 _No way. He can't be younger than me, can he?_ Something just felt off about getting consoled by a boy younger than she was- _if_ you could call whatever Kirito had done 'consoling'. After all, she'd been dealing with them for longer, hadn't she?

Sinon silently left her room. The curious bystanders had long since returned to their rooms.

A few seconds later, she was outside. The inn wasn't one-of-a-kind; many similar buildings could be found on each floor, all of them built to accommodate players.

Breathing out a sigh, Sinon glanced upward. The moon hung in the middle of the sky, stars twinkling around it. The authenticity of the whole scene gave her an eerie feeling.

As the wind blew strands of blue hair across her face, Sinon wondered what sort of level of genius was required to create a world so intricately detailed that it could even hope to replace the real one. If one thing was for certain, it was that the level of genius that Kayaba had been gifted with came with a certain amount of madness.

And while the whole concept didn't sit well with Sinon, she couldn't deny that the night sky was still beautiful, real or not.

Hours passed, Sinon still paying no heed to the outside world. She mindlessly wandered around the huge Town of Beginnings, glancing around at the different buildings. While medieval-themed, everything was neatly organized into sections. Once, she even passed by a hidden dungeon entrance. Before she could take a better look inside though, an image of a red skull popped up. Startled by the implications of its appearance, she made a note of the entrance and left, continuing her exploring.

As she walked, Sinon's mind began to run through the experiences she'd had in the past week. She was beginning to think that Kirito was some sort of genius, but in a more 'talented' sense. She'd seen so many players fighting rigidly and choppily, but he was clearly an exception. With the way he fought, one could say his brain was hardwired for combat.

A lot of the time, players looked a lot more like children swinging foam swords at each other than actual warriors carrying real steel. Hell, she'd even seen people fumble their weapons, cutting themselves. Sinon was sure she didn't look any better—she'd turned to archery for a reason, after all. Kirito, on the other hand, was much better.

He wasn't necessarily unique, though. Out of every ten or so players Sinon noticed fighting, maybe one of them would have skill of a similar level. From that, and what he seemed to know about the quest they'd completed the day before, she'd garnered that Kirito must've been a beta tester.

She didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, shouldn't the beta testers dedicate their time to training and educating all the people trapped in the game just trying to survive? Then again, she had been handed a guide allegedly written by these beta testers…

The virtual world was doing weird things to her brain. She could make neither head nor tail of her situation, especially when it came to Kirito. It was as if he had some sort of strange personality disorder, where a serious, disciplined persona was only coaxed out by combat.

 _I wonder if he's always like that…?_

Sinon snapped out of her thoughts when she realized she had walked a huge circle, now back at the inn she was residing in. In the moment her hand reached out to push the door, it was pulled open from the other side. She came face-to-face with a disheveled Kirito.

"O-oh! Sinon!" She could practically feel the nervousness dripping from his words.

"Hi, Kirito!" She quipped sweetly, though barely hiding her twitching eyebrow.

Kirito gulped. "Um…"

Sinon stayed silent for the next minute as Kirito profusely apologized for falling asleep on her bed. In the end, she silenced him with a stifled laugh.

"Just make it up to me by treating me to breakfast somewhere nice. I'm starving." Sinon lightly smacked his shoulder as she turned and walked away, with every intention to pick a pricey restaurant.

She could almost imagine Kirito blinking incredulously, shocked at having gotten away so easily.

* * *

Sinon sipped at her mug, taking in the earthy grit of her black coffee. Kirito sat across from her with his eyes closed, arms folded.

The sun had long since risen above the level of the buildings, filtering through the crossbars in the windows and casting a grid of light squares throughout the area.

"Oh yeah," Kirito began, picking up his own mug. Sinon raised her eyebrow as he took a sip. "I've been meaning to tell you—you should be a lot more conservative with your teleport crystals. You never know when you might need them in a pinch, and they're pretty expensive, too. Why were you in such a rush?"

Sinon almost choked on her coffee, spluttering and burning her tongue. "Hot!"

Kirito tried to hide a smirk, mostly unsuccessfully.

"I was just really tired, like I said. That's it." She lied. Though, she had been kind of cold to him. If he wasn't stupid, he was probably beginning to connect the dots between the past day's events.

If he had, he didn't give any indication. Sinon pressed on, eager to change the topic. "What was that quest, by the way? Didn't you say it had changed since the beta or something?"

Kirito tensed, and Sinon resisted the urge to smack herself. He definitely hadn't meant for her to hear that. In an attempt to salvage the situation, she quickly added, "I don't mind that you were a beta tester, by the way."

 _Do I?_

Kirito visibly relaxed.

"O-oh. Anyhow, originally that quest didn't contain a field boss or diseases of any kind. It was _supposed_ to just be raiding the stronghold of a small organization of bandits. The Cardinal system doesn't usually generate quests involving humans as the enemy, but I think it was supposed to be a first taste of what PKing would be like… probably."

 _PKing, huh?_ Sinon didn't really understand what kind of person could live with themselves by making a career off of player-killing. She definitely wouldn't be able to do it—she desperately hoped it would never come to that. At least it seemed like Cardinal was actively discouraging PKing now that SAO was a death game. Maybe Akihiko Kayaba wasn't a hundred percent evil?

"Sinon?" Kirito was waving his hand in front of her face, like he was checking to see if she was lagging.

"S-sorry! I was just thinking, that's all."

Kirito opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by the NPC waitress arriving with their dishes.

The two ate in relative silence—that is to say, very awkwardly. In truth, Sinon hadn't ever shared a meal with any people other than her family, and even that had been years ago. She'd always been the girl to sit alone during lunch hour, within the safety of her own mind.

And judging by Kirito's evident unease, he was the same way.

It was a relief for both of them when the waitress returned to collect their dishes. Sinon looked on innocently as the payment menu popped up in front of Kirito's face.

With the caliber of sigh he let out, one might think his soul had escaped his body.

* * *

Out of the corner of her eye, Sinon watched as Kirito swung his sword in a downward arc, instinctively wiping at his forehead even though their avatars didn't sweat. _Has he done this before?_ Sinon wondered, as Kirito moved towards the training dummies along one wall of the small arena.

The training arena was just a fenced off area with no specific shape on the outskirts of the Town of Beginnings. The ground was hard-packed dirt and other than the fence, it was open to its surroundings and the sky, which was currently a brilliant blue with sparse fluffy white clouds. As far as she could tell, when players entered a training arena, the SAO servers generated a new instance just for those players, to eliminate distractions—which meant she was alone with Kirito.

If anything, she'd hoped Kirito might teach her a thing or two about swordplay in case she ever had to engage at close range (which she knew she would, eventually.) In the end, it seemed as if she'd have to make it crystal-clear for him, as he hadn't really paid her any attention since they'd arrived.

Sinon had occupied herself by first trying to fire a few arrows from her new bow, which had been useless as her [STR] stat didn't meet its requirements. When that failed, she moved to planning her distribution of points for the next ten levels. After that, she'd resorted to fiddling with her settings and finally just watching the swordsman, debating whether to make an excuse to leave or swallow her pride and ask Kirito to teach her. (What was the 'Ethics Code,' anyway?)

"Sinon?" Kirito called, seemingly finished 'trying out his new sword,' as he'd put it. "You're staring."

Sinon promptly turned a bright shade of red. "I-I wasn't! I was just glancing over…" She trailed off, and resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands.

"If you wanted to ask me something, you can just say it." He moved so he was right in front of her, looking her in the face.

She turned her head away slightly, still wholly embarrassed. It was now or never. "Would you teach me how to fight with a sword?"

Kirito blinked. "Didn't you do the tutorial?"

Oh, how she wanted to punch him in the face. It obviously hadn't helped her much—even an idiot could see that.

"Will you teach me or not?" Sinon said, still red. Though now, it was from exasperation more than embarrassment.

"Okay, okay." He chuckled, stepping back. Suddenly, Sinon could breathe again. She hadn't even noticed she hadn't been taking full breaths. "Come on," he said, from the center of the arena.

Wordlessly, Sinon equipped her sword and obliged. Thank god her blush was fading.

"Show me your stance." He commanded, surprising her. What was up with the sudden change of attitude? He was completely serious as opposed to his normal jovial self.

Sinon stood with her legs shoulder width apart and dropped her center of gravity, holding her sword out in front of her with one hand.

"That's a good start." Kirito thought aloud, circling her. She felt distinctly uncomfortable under his scrutiny. "Loosen up your shoulders a bit more."

"…Like this?" Sinon really had no clue what she was doing.

Kirito raised an eyebrow. "Sinon… do you play any sports in real life?"

She stared back at him, blankly.

He muttered something under his breath that caused her to blanch a little with indignation. Something along the lines of, "there's a lot of work to be done."

* * *

Sinon flopped onto her bed in the early hours of dusk. In the end, she'd made barely any progress, even with Kirito's admittedly very helpful instructions. When asked how he knew so much about the art of swords, as it were, his one-word answer explained pretty much everything.

He'd shrugged and said "kendo," before putting her right back to work.

She didn't think someone who seemed so laid back could ever be so passionate about anything. For Kirito, though, his passion for swords seemed to make sense. On top of kendo, he'd completed the lengthy application process to become a beta tester. And if his familiarity with item sets and sword skills were any indication, he had been quite an accomplished beta tester, at that.

What did Sinon think of him?

She remembered the way he'd assumed she was weak the first time she met. The way he'd so brazenly asked her to do a quest with him even though they barely knew each other. The way he'd complained so vocally about the bill for breakfast this morning.

 _What a jerk._

And yet, in the few minutes they had talked in the morning, Sinon had felt more at home than she ever had in her suffocating one-person apartment.

He might've been a jerk, but at least he cared.

* * *

 **A/N:** Whew, it's done. First of all, I'd like to thank my beta and friend, **One More Guy**. Best beta I've ever had, by a long shot. We spent hours working this chapter and making it the best we could, all for you. You're welcome. I asked him for a note, like something he wanted to say to the readers, and this is all he could come up with: "Hey. I helped with this. Hope it's good enough." How creative, eh?

Anyway, I can't believe it's 2019 already. These annual chapter updates have been going by really qui-wait, what do you mean it's still 2018? That can't be right... That means I've finished this chapter in record time! And wow, I've got plans so the next chapter probably is gonna be here before the end of the year as well. No promises, though! I hope you guys have enjoyed.

Until next time,

-TheSilentSwordsman


	5. V: Gone

V

Gone

* * *

 _He might've been a jerk, but at least he cared._

* * *

Kirito didn't think he could care less about what Diavel was saying about the floor boss. He was more focused on lamenting the loss of his black coat—it had been torn to pieces while mapping the floor dungeon.

Then again, he had been a beta tester.

If anything, Kirito felt an overwhelming urge to lean back against the next row up of the amphitheatre and take a nap. He knew full well that they were currently experiencing Aincrad's nicest weather setting, during its nicest season. A few clouds floated in the sky, white wisps curling into vaguely recognizable shapes.

On the other hand, Sinon, who sat next to him, leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, hands cupping her partially-hidden face; she'd taken to wearing a rough burlap cloak to prevent herself from being harassed by the shadier portion of the male population. It was good she was paying attention—he could ask her to tell him about loot distribution policies later.

It'd been almost two weeks since the whole breakfast fiasco, and while Kirito's Col count had recovered, his pride certainly hadn't. It didn't help that Sinon kept teasing him for being sleepy most of the time. (So what? He was a teenager, dammit.)

Regardless, they'd become somewhat of a decent team in the time since then. During the beta, Kirito had played solo for so long that he'd forgotten what it felt like to have a competent combatant with him. Of course, Sinon still hadn't made much progress in sword-wielding. However, as ranged support, she was practically indispensable. Kirito got the feeling he was probably getting lazy as a result.

The two of them had mapped a large portion of the floor's dungeon, clearing mobs as they went. Even though they weren't the ones that had found the boss room, they'd made somewhat of a name for themselves, with other clearing teams referring to them as "the crazy two". It was definitely an uncreative (and somewhat cheesy) name, but it did well enough to set them apart from other dungeon-goers. After all, most people only felt safe enough when they were in parties of four or more.

It suited Kirito and Sinon better anyway—they were both loners, in their own rights.

This was also the main reason the two were sat so high in the amphitheatre, at least two rows from any other players. Their distance from the main stage was probably the reason Kirito's attention was diverted from his thoughts only when a voice substantially more grating than Diavel's pierced his eardrums.

Interested, Kirito turned his gaze from the clouds to the main stage, where a short man who looked as if he styled his hair after a morning star stood.

"The name's Kibaou!" He yelled, brashly. "And I've got something I need to get off my chest."

Kirito cringed.

"Over the past month, just about two thousand players have died!" Kibaou paused, letting that number sink in.

Kirito's breath hitched in his throat, his eyes widening. He noticed a similar reaction from Sinon. He knew many players had died—hell, he'd even seen players die right in front of his eyes. But… two thousand? That was unthinkable.

"If ya were to ask me," Kibaou continued, "I know exactly who I'd blame!"

The amphitheatre remained eerily silent, considering the number of players gathered in it.

"Those experienced bastards that ran off as soon as Akihiko Kayaba disappeared, the ones that left us newbies in the dust! That's right, it's because of those damned beta testers!"

Now that had hit a little too close to home. To be responsible for the deaths of others… Kirito had never considered the weight of such an accusation, yet it was now the cause of his sinking heart. And it wasn't like Kibaou's accusation had been false—he really _had_ run off into the fields to level as soon as possible, leaving behind thousands of confused noobs who probably weren't much better than Klein.

Kirito hadn't realized he had been digging his nails into his skin until a slender hand came to rest on his clasped ones.

"Don't listen to him," said Sinon softly, retracting her arm until it was once again hidden underneath her cloak. Despite her trying to comfort him, her tone suggested she didn't feel much conviction in doing so.

There was an acute silence from the centre stage. Kirito looked up from his hands to find that a hulking dark-skinned man had stood up, walking calmly to the stage. As he turned to look at the audience, Kibaou's small figure was lost completely in his shadow.

"Excuse me, everyone. My name is Agil." The man wasted no time, pulling a small book from one of the pouches on his belt.

Kirito recognized the small leather-bound book. In fact, he'd anonymously contributed several pages of information to it.

"This is a guidebook, and I sincerely hope you all have a copy." Agil spoke, and his voice was carried by the deep bass in it, unlike Kibaou who had relied on pure volume.

"After all," he continued, "these books were distributed in many NPC shops. For free."

Kibaou crossed his arms, clearly irritated at being undermined.

"This guidebook was put together thanks to the efforts of the network of info brokers among us players—but nearly all of the information was provided by beta testers."

Murmurs broke out amongst the gathered players. Much to his relief, Kirito could hear a few sentiments supporting the beta testers.

"The beta testers are their own people. They've already done more for us than anyone asked them to." Agil turned, directing his next words at Kibaou, "So it's wrong to pin the blame for thousands of deaths on them."

Kibaou's face, already set in a scowl, contorted into a snarl.

"I thought we all came to this meeting to discuss the boss fight and learn from the mistakes of those two thousand players." He turned to look at the blue-haired man on stage. "'Scuse me, Diavel. Please continue."

Agil pocketed his guidebook and sat down, looking satisfied. With a huff, Kibaou crossed to the seat furthest from Agil and plopped down on it, pouting.

Kirito let loose a breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding. At one point, Kibaou had honestly looked angry enough to try to start a fight with the larger man. Agil was right—he hadn't completely abandoned the new players. Kirito would have to thank the man later, if only for clearing his conscience.

Diavel pulled his own guidebook from his pocket, and took a deep breath, cuing Kirito to slip back into his own thoughts.

* * *

Many of the clearers had taken to exploring Aincrad's first floor of their own volition, seeing as how they probably wouldn't return to it after the next floor became available. Kirito and Sinon had been two of these clearers.

Hours had passed, and they'd only covered about three quarters of the points of interest. Amazingly, the floor was large enough that there were huge swathes of uninhabited land, even with ten thousand players. The forest the duo trudged through was one of those.

"Kirito?" Sinon muttered, breaking the silence between them.

Kirito looked at Sinon, raising a hand in a feeble attempt to block the setting sun's rays. "What is it?"

"You know that guidebook Agil was talking about today?"

"Oh, that thing?" Kirito yawned.

"Did you contribute to it?" Sinon asked quickly, as if anticipating his answer.

 _Is she worried about something?_

Kirito looked up, folding his arms behind his head, thinking for a moment. "Yeah. Most of the attack patterns stuff for higher floors was from me. That and a few of the drop tables for the later field bosses. Why do you ask?"

Sinon sighed, and it almost sounded like one of relief. "All that just from you? What happened to the other thousand beta testers?"

"I guess it's like Kibaou said," Kirito replied, hands returning to his sides. "Some of us just left all the new players behind. I guess I just felt obligated to share as much as I could."

"That Kibaou guy was a prick," Sinon grumbled, and it felt as if some of the awkward air around them had lifted. "Don't let him get to you. If any beta testers should really be blamed, it should be those that didn't contribute to the guidebook at all."

"That might be true, but still. A few bad apples ruin the bunch, eh?"

Sinon went deadpan, as if she were questioning Kirito's sanity. "A few?"

"A few hundred." Kirito waved dismissively. "Details, detai—Augh!"

The mighty swordsman went face-first into the dirt, having tripped over a tree root.

Sinon's voice rang out next to him, full of mirth. "Were you saying something about details?"

* * *

"Minion clearing, huh…?" Kirito grumbled, feeling as if he'd been delegated to an inferior task—which in reality, _he had_.

"Well, you can't blame Diavel. There _are_ only two of us," said Sinon, a placating smile on her face.

The newly-created Squad F hung at the very back of the clearing group, far enough that passersby might think they were only tagging along.

"Actually, we've only got one _real_ combatant." Sinon added, with a roll of her eyes.

Kirito scoffed. "They'll start to fear you when they face ranged monsters on higher floors."

The girl giggled, and the two lapsed into a comfortable silence, just barely out of range of the voices from the rambunctious clearing group.

Kirito had spent arguably too long drilling the intricacies of boss raids into Sinon the night before—she'd fallen asleep twice during his explanations before he'd decided to call it a night. Hopefully, she'd managed to absorb enough information in her half-asleep state.

Having decided against continuing his tedious lecture, Kirito found himself staring at the relatively small but still foreboding boss room door in no time.

The mumbling filling the room abruptly halted with the sharp sound of hard steel striking stone. Diavel stood at the front of the group, hands rested on the pommel of his sword as if he was a king overlooking his subjects.

"Look alive, everyone." Diavel spoke in a voice just loud enough to carry over the forces he'd organized-he didn't want to risk attracting more monsters than necessary. After all, the boss room's door didn't close after the players until much higher floors. Upon surveying the players gathered one last time, Diavel raised his sword and gave a solemn nod.

"Let's go!"

Diavel pulled his sword from the ground and pushed the boss room's door open, the clearing force following in behind him. The dark great hall's walls and ceiling came to life, glowing prismatically. Illfang the Kobold Lord rose from his throne and let loose a mighty roar, brandishing his axe and buckler.

"Commence the attack!" Diavel commanded, pointing his blade. The battle to reach the final floor of the great castle Aincrad had begun.

* * *

"Sinon, now!" Kirito called, parrying the mace-strike of a Ruin Kobold Sentinel. His opponent stumbled back, knocked off balance from the blow. As it backpedalled, an arrow embedded itself into the monster's chest.

 _Nice, Sinon!_

Holding back to recover his stamina, Kirito heard Diavel shouting commands from the rear. "Squads A and C, switch! B, continue countering! D, E, F, keep those sentinels off of us!"

Kirito took this as his cue to leap back into the fray, knowing Sinon had his back.

In his moment of rest, Kirito hadn't paid enough attention to his surroundings. A Sentinel's mace flew at him from his left, with the glow of a sword skill about it.

 _Shit!_

He didn't have time to activate a sword skill…! With all his strength, Kirito swung his blade in a path to intercept the mace. A loud _clang_ rang out, and both combatants were thrown back, staggered. Luckily for Kirito, however…

 _Thck!_ The sound of an arrow sinking into flesh spurred Kirito forwards, knowing he wouldn't receive support like that again for a few seconds. He planted his left foot behind him and launched forwards, activating a right-to-left [Horizontal].

"Hup!" The noise of exertion escaped him as his sword flew under the Sentinel's defences and sliced into its body at the waist. As he landed roughly on his right foot, Kirito's blade completed its path through the Sentinel's body. The monster instantly died, its two halves flying apart.

 _Next!_ His sword trailing just slightly behind him, Kirito surged forwards to the next monster. An overhead strike hurtled towards his head, and Kirito made a split-second decision. There was no sword skill in his arsenal that could reliably parry an overhead strike—-so he'd do it himself.

He placed his sword horizontally in the path of the incoming attack, and braced it by holding his hand against the flat, near the tip. Just as the Sentinel struck, Kirito _pushed_ with his open hand and knocked the attack aside in an unorthodox yet effective parry.

Sinon must've had two arrows nocked at the same time—they both struck the Sentinel in the chest, leaving it a one-hit for Kirito.

The sentinel stumbled back, off balance from the impacts. Kirito wasted no time pushing forwards, activating [Rage Spike] in an instant. He shot forwards under the system assist, his blade jutting forwards in an upward thrust.

Night Sky Sword, glowing a brilliant blue, punctured the Kobold Sentinel's throat easily. The monster fell limp even as it disintegrated, dead from the critical hit.

"Kirito! They got it down to its last legs!" Sinon called, loosing an arrow.

"Got it!" Kirito yelled back, turning to run towards the main clearing force. Since Illfang would discard his axe and buckler to draw the Talwar on his back, the best course of action would be to surround him just out of the Talwar's reach and finish him off. That way—

"Stay back!" Diavel yelled. "I got this!"

As Diavel's words sunk in, Kirito almost stumbled and fell.

 _What?!_

Diavel ran towards the boss, brandishing his sword and shield. Kirito recognized the signature activation pose of [Horizontal Arc, and a few thoughts rushed through his head.

 _So that was your plan all along, hmm… you could've been a bit more cov-_

His train of thought ground to a sudden halt.

 _That's not a talwar!_

"Diavel!" Kirito yelled, picking up the pace as much as he could. "Get back, you dumbass! He's holding a _nodachi_!"

Diavel didn't listen. His sword skill missed harmlessly as Illfang jumped high to the ceiling of the room and launched himself between the pillars holding it up. Diavel turned and stepped over his feet to try to follow the boss's motion, until he stumbled. "Shi—!"

Illfang launched himself from the ceiling, his weapongleaming in the artificial light of the chamber. In one swift motion, the boss struck Diavel into the air as he landed.

 _Not good! That attack has a follow-up!_ Kirito thought desperately, having stopped running towards the slaughter. There wasn't any way he would've reached Diavel in time, anyway.

Illfang the Kobold Lord pushed off against the ground, in hot pursuit of Diavel's flying body. He quickly closed the distance and ripped into Diavel with a sickening _squelch_.

This drove Kirito back into action. If he could get to Diavel in time—maybe he'd be able to save him! Kirito sprinted full tilt towards where Diavel's body laid unmoving. Seemingly sated for the moment, Illfang let loose a mighty roar as the rest of the clearers watched the scene unfold, dumbfounded.

Reaching Diavel, Kirito quickly sheathed his sword and began to dig around in his pouches for a health potion. Maybe, just maybe—

"N-no…" Diavel managed to groan, giving Kirito a weak smile as Kirito knelt and propped him up. "I-It's better this way. I honestly can't do it anymore. O-one month, and all we've managed to accomplish is this?! You—you were a beta tester too, weren't you? Keep 'em alive… for… me…"

"Diavel!" Kirito's hand, having just closed around a health potion, clenched around it tightly. Diavel closed his eyes and slowly dissolved, leaving Kirito's other arm with a feeling of weightlessness. Kirito stared into the space Diavel had left, shocked.

Kirito had to consciously close his mouth-he'd just noticed that it had been hanging agape.

 _That's right… Diavel was a beta tester too. And even though we beta testers all tried to help, we were really just fooling ourselves. But Diavel… Diavel never abandoned these new players!_

Kirito felt his eyebrows furrow,

 _And now… It's my turn._

With a stern look on his face, Kirito rose, swiftly pulling his sword from his back. If the clearing group could see his face, they would've seen the glint in his eye of newfound determination.

"Sinon! Back me up!"

"R-right!" Sinon stuttered, not having expected Kirito's abrupt attack.

With that, Kirito ran headlong towards Illfang, the rest of the players all still frozen in shock. As the boy closed in, the boss hefted his sword for an attack.

 _I recognize that pattern!_

Illfang's nodachi hurtled at Kirito from the right, leaving a menacing trail of light in its wake. Kirito ducked low and lunged right, raising the hilt of his sword slightly above his blade to redirect the force of the strike. His attack incomplete, Illfang brought the nodachi high above his head, readying for a crushing downward slash.

"Rragh!" Kirito pulled his sword low and activated [Vertical]. The two attacks met, and Kirito felt his knees almost buckle with the weight.

Just as soon as it begun, the momentary clash broke apart. Illfang stumbled back, his guard wide open. Kirito wasn't much better off, having fallen on his behind due to his disrupted balance. The force behind the blow was much greater than the fodder nodachi wielders on higher floors.

Just as Kirito grit his teeth at the missed opportunity, three arrows sunk into Illfang's chest, in a perfect vertical line.

 _Nice, Sinon!_

The arrows impacting Illfang served to push him further, extending the period of time that the boss's guard was open. Kirito, quick to take advantage of the opening, got his feet back under him to launch into a [Sonic Leap]. Moving faster than what would've been possible with his current AGI stat, his sword sliced a deep gash in Illfang from shoulder to hip, with the satisfying resistance of flesh. But Kirito hadn't timed his attack as well as he should have—Illfang recovered just as Kirito's attack finished. With a quick flick of the boss's arm, Kirito went flying.

 _Shit. Using that sword skill screwed me over because of the motion delay afterwards!_

Sword skills in SAO were, at their root, meant to be system assists. All they did was guide a player's body through a motion with a buff to damage and speed. However, as players levelled up, low level sword skills became obsolete. The buffs they provided became negligible, and players were able to perform the attack and variations of it by themselves, without any post-skill motion delay. As such, Kirito wasn't used to using these basic sword skills.

He'd lost half of his health because of it.

And Illfang was charging right towards him.

 _Is this really the end?_ Kirito desperately pushed his hands underneath him, but his arms were still weak from taking such a heavy blow. It was no use; he couldn't move.

Just then, he was shocked by a battle cry from someone else.

"Haaah!" Sinon yelled, batting Illfang's next strike aside with her bow. Kirito knew firsthand what kind of monstrous strength the boss possessed, so he was surprised when Sinon only slid back a meter or so, managing to stay on her feet. Her old bow, however, hadn't fared so well. It shattered in her hands, leaving her defenceless.

More yells rose from behind Kirito, as he struggled to his feet. It seemed as if the rest of the force had finally regained their wits, as they rushed in to keep Illfang occupied.

"S-Sinon!" Kirito struggled out, leaning on his sword as he pulled a health potion from a pouch. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," replied Sinon, looking a bit worse for wear. "But my strength stat isn't high enough to use that other bow, yet… so…"

Kirito finished gulping down the sickly sweet potion. "Got it. We'll handle this, so try to stay out of the way of the big guy!"

Sinon nodded, and pulled a dagger from her hip; they'd found that she was at least mildly better with a shorter blade than she was with a sword.

Turning his attention back towards Illfang, Kirito noticed that the clearers were steadily being overpowered—of course, nothing in the guidebook had told them about nodachi users' attack patterns.

"Agil!" Kirito shouted to the axe-wielder, who stood in the path of a slash, readying a parry. "Create an opening!"

"Roger!" The man yelled back, putting all of his brute strength into parrying Illfang's attack. As they both stumbled, Kirito managed to catch a glimpse of the boss's last remaining health bar.

 _This is it!_

Kirito activated one final [Sonic Leap, forcing his foot against the ground with all the strength he could muster.

"HUUUAGGGH!" He purposely aimed deep, intending to cleave Illfang in two. As Kirito poured the last of his strength into his slash, he did just that. The first floor boss's halves broke apart, and burst in a beautiful kaleidoscope, leaving behind a panting Kirito, brought to his knees by exhaustion. He was vaguely aware of the last attack bonus, 'Coat of Midnight'.

 _Another black coat, huh? I might just build up a reputation like this…_

A moment of silence graced the boss room, with only the congratulations message displayed in the air. And then, an uproar of clapping and cheering.

"We did it!"

"Finally!"

"Ki-ri-to!"

"Ki-ri-to!"

His name became a chant, and Kirito's face turned from the light red shade of exhaustion to the scarlet of embarrassment. He turned, and something—no, some _one_ caught his attention.

Sinon didn't chant—she smiled at him warmly as if to say, _I knew you weren't cut out for just dispatching fodder_. To him, that smile lit up the world.

"Shaddup!" A loud voice yelled from behind the group. "How could you!?"

Kirito's eyes narrowed. He didn't tend to forget people—especially people with such annoying voices.

"Diavel is dead! And it's because of you!" Kibaou yelled, pushing his way through the troops to get a clear view of the black-haired boy. "You could've warned him… You should've noticed the different sword on the boss's back! Shouldn't you have… you no-good beta-tester?"

It felt as if cold sweat was pricking at Kirito's brow. It's true—he had noticed the change in his subconscious, but hadn't thought it important enough to share. Murmurs broke out in the crowd.

"So Diavel is really dead?"

"He didn't say anything?"

"As expected, all beta testers are selfish…"

"These beta testers are taking it too far!"

 _This isn't good. At this rate…_ thought Kirito, a dramatic idea forming in his head. _There'll be a witch hunt for beta testers!_

And so, to prevent such a disastrous situation, Kirito's dramatic plan was put into action.

"Heh."

"Hah."

"Haha!"

As Kirito stood and forced the hysteric-sounding laugh out of his mouth, each one was easier than the last. It wasn't long before he looked and sounded _truly_ insane.

"Beta testers? Please. Don't lump me in with those guys." Kirito eyed the crowd, and his resolve wavered when he saw the confusion—and _hurt_ on Sinon's face.

But it was too late to turn back now.

"Most of the thousand beta testers for this game were just rich newbies who didn't even know what an RPG levelling system was! Even you lot are better than them," said Kirito, keeping his facial expression cold.

Many in the clearing group blinked, not expecting such praise.

"But then again, don't be proud of clearing such a low bar." Kirito smirked.

"You see, I'm the real deal. An elite. You guys are fodder compared to me. The reason I knew how to fight the boss is because his attack pattern was the same as nodachi and katana-wielding monsters on floors way higher than this! In fact, in the beta, I made it higher than anyone else! I know more than you could ever imagine, more than any information broker!"

The crowd was silent. Kirito couldn't bring himself to look at Sinon's face. Nonetheless, he continued.

"Meanwhile, you guys blindly followed that fool you called a leader. Not only was he deceiving you and was a beta-tester all along, he also selfishly tried to snatch the Last Attack bonus! How dumb are you people, falling for it hook, line and sinker?" Kirito sneered. "You lot are the clearers, too! Who would've imagined that 8000 lives are on the shoulders of such incompetent people, huh?" Following that rhetorical question, he shook his head in a mocking fashion.

More than half of the group grit their teeth in anger.

 _Maybe I overdid it?_

"What the hell!? That's… That's god-awful!" Kibaou yelled at the top of his lungs, enraged. "You son of a bitch! Don't go puttin' yourself on a pedestal and thinking you're high and mighty just cause you've had more time to play than us regular folk! Lauding that information over us and keeping it all to yourself… That's cheating, fucker!"

"Beta tester and a cheater. Beater!" Someone called, supporting Kibaou.

Kirito glanced back and forth, scanning the unfamiliar faces. Surprisingly, a few didn't look convinced. A few even watched sympathetically.

It was time to drive the last nail into the coffin. "That's right… Beater. I like it." Kirito growled, taking Kibaou by surprise. Kirito dragged his fingers in the air to open his menu, and navigated to his inventory. As he did this, he slowly walked towards the clearers, meaning to get to the teleport door behind them.

As the crowd slowly parted around him, unsure what to make of the seemingly insane teen, Kirito equipped his new coat. It fluttered into existence all around him, leaving him feeling substantially less vulnerable. "I'm a beater, you hear? So don't lump me in with those beta testers."

Kirito paused for a moment, and grinned coldly. "Losers."

With that, Kirito broke through the crowd and ascended the steps to the door leading to the next floor of Aincrad. Unable to restrain himself, he turned one last time to find Sinon's face.

Her pretty features were twisted in a frown, and she looked as if she was trying her hardest not to be furious.

Kirito turned. He took a step forwards.

"Wait!" Yelled Sinon, at the top of her lungs. "Kirito, _WAIT!_ "

But he was already gone.

* * *

 _ **~omake~**_

 _A week prior_

Sinon awoke to an incessant knocking on her door, as if the person on the other side were being chased by a horde of the undead.

Feeling her anger rising, Sinon stomped to the door, not even caring she was still in her pyjamas. She closed a hand into a fist, readying to deck whoever stood on the other side for daring to interrupt her sleep. With her other hand, she flung the door open, and—

Her anger completely melted. She stood face-to-face with a girl—and a pretty one, at that. Long, lustrous black hair framed a face that was all too panicked for this early in the morning. And something about that face… It was much too eerily familiar.

Then, Sinon saw her username. And punched her in the face.

" _Gack_!" The girl made a sort of masculine sound even with her feminine voice, and hit the opposing wall of the hallway, _hard_.

"Kirito!? What the hell are you doing?" Sinon hissed, an eyebrow twitching dangerously. "This takes cross-dressing to a whole new level."

"I'm _not_ cross-dressing!" He—no, she argued, cradling her head in pain. "It's not like I wanted this!"

Sinon sighed. _He's prettier than I am…_

"It's gotta be a glitch or something!" Kirito… Kiriko? Said from the ground, still desperately trying to defend himse—herself? Weird.

"Okay, so I believe it's a glitch. Why are you here?"

"I just didn't want to panic about this alone? And…" Kirito trailed off as a strand of hair made its way into her mouth, causing her to splutter.

For the second time in less than a minute, Sinon sighed. And she actually invited him—her in.

It hadn't taken long for Sinon to procure the required objects to tie Kirito's hair into a high ponytail. At least she could talk without eating it anymore.

"As far as I know," said the black-haired girl, "I was the only one affected. Which means… I got really unlucky and it's a one-in-ten-thousand glitch, or Kayaba is just messing with me."

 _His voice is cuter than mine, too! Damn it, it's just not fair!_

Kirito seemed to notice the troubled expression on Sinon's face. "Sinon?"

Wholly flustered, Sinon stumbled and choked on her words. "I… thinking anything wrong? Jeez!"

Kirito eyed her suspiciously. "Were you trying to say something?"

"…No."

Kirito paused and shrugged, before continuing.

"Anyway. I swear, if this lasts for the entire game…"

Sinon paled at the thought. If she were to be trapped as a guy for the length of the death game… Well. She didn't know if she'd be able to retain an intact identity at the end of it. They sat in silence, pondering the implications.

Suddenly, Kirito blushed a deep scarlet. "I… have to use the washroom."

A devilish idea entered Sinon's mind. "Well, just endure it for now, _Kiriko-chan~"_

"…I hate you."

* * *

Sinon had become used to the stares from the more… _unsavory_ portion of the player population not long after the game began. After all, she was a girl in a land of shut-ins and NEETs.

Kiriko (yes, Sinon had taken to calling him—her that to keep her thoughts organized) couldn't say the same. With the way her facial expression was, one might think she was being slobbered on by a large dog—one she couldn't escape from.

"Sinon?" She muttered from behind the blue-haired girl walking confidently in front of her, "is it always like this?"

"Eh," Sinon replied, "you get used to it."

"…Oh."

The two lapsed into a silence that Sinon found comfortable, though she imagined Kiriko probably found it unnerving.

Her suspicions were proven correct when the black-haired girl spoke again. "Sinon? Where are we going?"

"To meet a friend." Most likely, Kiriko also knew Argo. Most likely, she wouldn't have agreed to come if she _knew_ Sinon was taking her to see Argo. But at this point, she was their best chance of returning Kiriko to normal.

Sinon led Kiriko through a network of back alleys, the buildings around them rising above two stories and blocking most of the midday sun. The occasional backwater NPC shop appeared, but the alleys were mostly deserted by players and NPCs alike.

Finally, the two turned the corner just before the meeting spot Argo and Sinon had agreed on.

"O-ho~? Sinonon, you're late! That isn't like you." Argo's blonde hair framed her small face, set in a distinctly feline grin. Her trademark red whiskers almost glowed in the sunlight. Argo consistently claimed she was sixteen, but Sinon honestly couldn't see her being more than fourteen. The hood on her cloak was down, an appearance she saved for her meetings with friends.

"Sorry, Argo." Sinon's hand snatched out and grabbed the collar of Kiriko's coat to stop the girl from running. "We were held up. This one here likes to walk slowly."

"Hmm?" Argo moved closer and tried to get a good look at Kiriko's face, but the latter kept turning her head to prevent that from happening. Her long black hair did her a huge favour by falling in front of her face every time she turned.

"Aww, come on. Don't be shy!" Argo had resorted to poking Kiriko in the shoulder in an effort to loosen her up.

"As you can see, Kirito here is in a bit of a dilemma." Sinon deadpanned, still gripping Kiriko's collar tightly.

Argo, who'd been hovering around the girl in question, pestering her to stop shying away, abruptly stopped.

She blinked, not once, not twice, but three times.

"K-Kirito!?"

"Yeah, it's me." Kiriko grumbled.

"Kirito, what happened? You're a girl now? I didn't know you swung that way, or even that it was possi-"

"Shut up, Argo." Kiriko interrupted, a blush beginning to form. "I _don't_ swing that way, whatever you're suggesting. It's a bug… or something."

"Relax, dummy. I'm just teasing you. Sinonon here told me all about the sitch before you guys got here. I _do_ need some time to organize my info, you know?" A small grin formed on her face. "Anyway, what do I call you now? Hmm… Kiriko?"

Kiriko groaned. "Not you, too… Hey, what do you mean she told you? You guys know each other?"

"Of course~!" Argo snapped her fingers, as if that fact should've been obvious. "After all, us girls need to stick together, right?" At this, she raised an eyebrow at Kiriko suggestively, before breaking into a laughing fit.

 _She adapted quickly…_ Sinon thought, though for some reason she was unsurprised.

About a minute passed before Kiriko interrupted her. "You done?" She questioned, a bored expression on her face. "Sinon, why did you want to meet with Argo?"

"Well, I figured if anyone would have information on what happened to you, it would be her. Oh, smile for the camera." Sinon pointed back in Argo's direction, and Kiriko turned to look.

"Wha—?"

 _Chk!_

"Aw man, this is gold. It's not every day you can get a picture like this." Argo smirked, closing her menu.

"Argo! I swear, if you sell that to someone…"

"Very threatening, _Kiriko_. But who would want a picture like this? Besides, I think it'd be worth _way_ more as blackmail, hehehe…"

Argo trailed off at the end, and Sinon was relatively sure Kiriko hadn't heard her. Argo was a devious one, that was for sure.

"Anyway," the blonde info broker continued, "I haven't heard anything about it other than this. If I do, I'll PM you, Sinon. In the end, it really does just seem like a bug." She raised her arms in a shrug.

"Hold on… You guys are on each other's friends list?" Kiriko asked, incredulous.

"Why wouldn't we be?" Argo shot back, with another feline grin. "Have fun now, you two~!"

Argo turned and pulled the hood of her cloak up to exit the alley, presumably in search of more profitable business.

Kiriko turned to Sinon. "And she didn't charge you anything for that…"

Sinon blinked. "Why would she? We're friends."

"She definitely would've charged _me_." Kiriko grumbled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "That damn rat. I can never get a hold of her when I need her, and you can just PM her! For having a name like _rat_ , she sure is sly. Kind of like a cat."

"She is strangely cat-like." Sinon agreed, nodding thoughtfully.

"So? What now?" A sigh escaped Kiriko's mouth as she said that.

"Well, Argo said she didn't know anything." Sinon looked Kiriko up and down, earning her a raised eyebrow from the aforementioned girl. "So, I'm thinking we go play dress-up."

"I guess that'd be a good ide—wait, what?" Kiriko's voice became heavily laced with fear. "Wait wait wait… No, you wouldn't. Y-you seriously wouldn't. Right? Right?!"

"You know… both my AGI and STR stats are higher than yours." Kiriko's eyes went wide at that—how could that have been possible?

"Just kidding, Kiriko- _chan_. You are coming with me, though." Her hand shot out once again and latched onto Kiriko's collar.

"You think you can hold me like that?" Kiriko challenged, struggling to get away. "...Holy crap, you've really got a brutish iron grip."

"Kiriko," Sinon put on a sickly sweet, fake smile, "I'm not sure that's a nice thing to say to a girl."

Shortly after, a loud shriek pierced the calm atmosphere, startling all the birds from their perches in the trees.

The next day, Kirito (and his feet) thanked his lucky stars he'd returned to normal. But the nightmare he had gone through? That'd always remain engraved in his memory as the worst day he'd ever lived, period

* * *

 **A/N:** **Actually read this this time, it's important. Or at least, the second paragraph.** We're finally out of the woods. I can start writing original content now, and I won't have to worry about the crappy-ass canon Reki laid down! (For the most part.) Anyway, this chapter turned out long and I would've made the fight longer if I hadn't thought it was repetitive and boring. Anyway, our two main characters have split! Sinon seems pissed! Oh noes! I wonder what the future has in store for them?

I hope you guys liked the lighter omake at the end. I've decided that I'll write one every five chapters, and **I'll be taking requests.** They won't be completed in any order or anything, I'll just pick the ones that I like. This specific one was inspired from discussion on the Ace Fanfiction discord server, a gathering place for authors and readers alike. Names you might recognize like A New Username, Yakosh and Xera Stark make that discord server a lively place for lovers of writing to talk, not to mention that I'm on there as well! For those of you who know how to join discord servers, this is the extension: /YU8A6Bp

Once again, a big thank you to One More Guy, who was the primary beta for this chapter. I say primary, because I also received small amounts of help from the various other authors on that aforementioned discord server. I was able to get another chapter out relatively quickly because of them. Anyway, reviews are super appreciated! They're more motivation to keep the chapters coming. Thanks for your support, guys!

Until next time,

-TheSilentSwordsman


	6. VI: In-between

VI

In-between

* * *

 _But he was already gone._

* * *

Sinon wasn't angry.

At least, that's what she told herself.

In reality, _of course she was angry._ And somewhere in her head, she knew that she had every right to be.

Who did he think he was?

That… That _complete, utter asshole._

"Miss? Would you like to order something?"

Sinon blinked. She'd been staring at the vase with a single white flower in the centre of her table for far too long. She looked up at the NPC waitress hovering over her and forced a smile.

"Um, I'll need a few more minutes to decide."

The NPC smiled in response. "Please, take your time."

Sinon promptly returned to grinding her teeth.

Between the turmoil within her and the constant urge to punch something or yell at the top of her lungs, she really couldn't figure out what exactly she was angry about. She was angry about his abrupt departure, for sure. Something close to her first true friend had upped and left her alone without a word—yet she knew that that wasn't the underlying cause of her ire.

She'd never been good with other people, that much was for certain. But one would think that after being an introvert for so long, Sinon might've had a better grasp on her own feelings.

Was it the way he'd said those things yesterday? His flat-out arrogance? No, Sinon knew Kirito wasn't like that… probably. There had to have been a reason—even if she couldn't comprehend it just yet.

Then was it his deception, his lie? What even was the lie? Had he been playing her for a fool the whole time, stringing her along as some sort of support puppet? Yet again, Sinon shut her own question down. Someone couldn't just hide their identity like that for so long.

Then why?

Perhaps she was angry at herself? After all, Kirito was wholly out of her reach now; she wouldn't be able to contact him for any closure. And surely, he wouldn't come looking for her, not with the way he'd left. Not once in the 3 weeks they had shared did Sinon think to add him to her friends list. Why would she have, when he was waiting in the dining hall to eat breakfast with her every morning? But again, he hadn't mentioned it either. Maybe he'd forgotten as well?

Or maybe… he'd seen something like this coming from the very beginning? And yet, when Sinon had looked into Kirito's eyes just before he had moved on… In that moment, Sinon had thought she'd seen sadness, even guilt.

So, Kirito must've had a reason. And maybe he'd done it for her, too. He'd surely be a target now and sticking with him would've been like painting a bullseye on her own back. What if that had been his reasoning?

While that thought should've been comforting, the only thing it resulted in was Sinon's hands curling into fists.

 _So then… why?_

Why hadn't he taken her with him? Had he believed her to be too weak to defend herself against the more fanatical players? Insulting, but an insult would never make her feel the way she felt.

When it really came down to it—the only thing left was… trust. Did he not trust her enough to watch his back?

"Miss?"

The waitress from earlier had returned, wearing a winning smile.

"Are you ready to order now?"

Sinon didn't answer. She couldn't. She was much too captivated by the feeling of her anger dissolving, and a strange feeling taking its place. Her chest clenched, and her jaw tightened until breathing was a chore.

She couldn't name that feeling. The closest she got to identifying it was "loss." Yet that word was far from adequate, in her mind.

Regardless. Kirito was gone, and for all Sinon knew, he'd stay that way. Her only friend, her first partner.

That… that dumbass.

And in the time it had taken her to sort her thoughts out as best she could, Sinon had decided that she wasn't hungry, after all. She abruptly pushed her chair out and stood up.

Pushing past the NPC waitress, Sinon muttered an "excuse me" and left the restaurant.

* * *

Sinon tugged at the string of her bow, a small smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. The legs of the bow flexed ever so slightly, and as Sinon released the cord, it sprang forward with a _twang_. It had become so effortless—practically second nature to her, that she couldn't exactly remember how life had been before becoming an archer.

Ahead of her, the third-floor dungeon sprawled out for kilometres. Torches flickered dimly every few meters along the walls, providing barely enough light for Sinon to make out the vague silhouettes of the monsters ahead. The stone walls had paisley patterns carved in, and Sinon couldn't help but reach out and run her fingers along them as she walked towards the dungeon's exit.

Playing solo as a ranged specialist was somewhat akin to suicide, yet the disaster that awaited her in every party she'd tried joining so far was worse. Her teammates would block her shots, hog the rewards, or retreat. (And that usually involved leading the angry monsters right towards her in the process.) If Sinon was _really_ lucky, it would be a combination of all three. Besides, she could use a dagger pretty well if things really came down to it.

After three weeks of bouncing from party to party, she was starting to think she'd be solo for the entire game. Was it perhaps her fault—the way she fought?

Well, _he_ had never had a problem with it. And much to her chagrin, she hadn't seen him for a month. Sinon had been looking forward to chewing him out with all she had, but he'd never shown. It wasn't like she was actively searching for him, but wouldn't they have met at least once by chance?

Sinon had been going into the second floor's dungeon for two weeks, making barely any progress with the incompetent parties she'd found herself in. Then, literally overnight, the dungeon had been mapped and mostly cleared.

Who else could it have been?

But when the time came to fight the boss, Kirito had been nowhere to be seen.

Sinon recalled the meeting she had had with Argo following that boss fight.

"Come on, clearing a dungeon overnight? He's just trying to show off. I wonder who it could be for~?" Argo had teased, a coy smile on her face. It seemed that as far as Argo was concerned, spending three weeks fighting together was grounds for undying love.

When Sinon had asked Argo if she had any idea why Kirito had waited two weeks to clear the dungeon out, the info broker had shrugged.

"Maybe he was levelling up until he felt ready?"

Sinon idly fingered her metal hair clip as she walked, lost in her thoughts.

"Asu—!" Came a yell from a dark hallway to her left—one she hadn't yet explored. And following that yell, a sound that made her heart lurch. The sound of glass shattering.

Sinon turned and sprinted down the hall, pulling her bow from her shoulder.

By the time she'd reached the other players— _player_ , it was already over. A cloaked figure around her height stood alone, swaying back and forth not unlike a leaf in the wind.

"Um—" Sinon began quietly, trying her best not to startle the player in the cloak.

The player swayed ever slightly too far and began to fall. Later, Sinon would realize that she'd covered five meters faster than she'd ever thought she was capable of.

In the fall, the player's hood had fallen back, revealing an admittedly, even to Sinon, beautiful girl. The girl's eyes were wide open—she was merely exhausted, not unconscious. Her auburn hair fell over Sinon's arm and draped across the floor as Sinon supported her head.

"Are you okay?" Sinon glanced at the girl's health bar and blanched; there was barely a sliver left. Her hand shot into her pouch and instantly pulled out a bright red vial. Gingerly, Sinon lowered the tip of the vial to the girl's mouth.

Her eyelids drooping, the auburn-haired girl sipped slowly from the potion, and Sinon breathed a sigh as she noticed the girl's health bar begin to steadily climb. As soon as the vial was empty, the player pushed Sinon's arms away, and sat up herself.

"Are you okay?" Sinon repeated, noting that the other girl didn't seem to be much for words. "Um…" Sinon continued, grasping for a name.

The girl stared back at her in response.

"You didn't have to do that."

"…All I did was—" Sinon tried, before she was quickly cut off.

"I have my own potions." The girl answered, matter-of-factly. She pulled the cloak of her hood up, and her face disappeared into darkness once more.

"You might've died from just hitting the ground there!" Sinon's voice raised, accompanying her rising temper. "A thank you would be nice! Hmph."

"Thank you." The girl replied, leaving Sinon speechless. _How blunt!_

As the other player stood up and brushed herself off, Sinon noticed her extremely thin sheath for the first time. A rapier user. She must've been extremely dextrous—Sinon hadn't run all that far when she'd heard the cry of distress earlier, yet when she'd arrived, the threat had already been dealt with. Which reminded her…

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it in time to help your friend." Sinon muttered.

The cloaked girl, who had made to turn and leave, turned halfway back to regard Sinon with cold, solemn eyes. "We… We weren't friends."

"Party member, then?" Sinon attempted.

The girl merely turned and began to walk away. Once again, Sinon was spluttered to speechlessness. The other girl was _cold._

Yet Sinon thought that for a moment, behind those emotionless eyes, she _did_ see something. Guilt. As Asuna walked away, her pace quickening with every step, Sinon merely stayed frozen, staring at her back.

* * *

The Black Swordsman had made somewhat of a name for himself. And this made Sinon angry because in the two _months_ since he'd abandoned her, she hadn't heard even a peep from him. But she knew the anger was irrational—she'd stopped expecting anything like that weeks ago.

It seemed he had realized he couldn't hide forever, as he'd become a common sight on the front lines. Luckily, the situation with beaters seemed to have calmed down and Sinon had a feeling that most players were just glad that he was on their team. Yet somehow, Sinon hadn't seen him from less than a hundred meters away, much less had a chance to talk to him or better yet, smack him.

Sinon stepped outside of the sandstone inn she had been staying in, taking a deep breath of arid desert air. The twelfth floor in its entirety was a grand desert, and while crossing it on foot wouldn't kill you, it would most certainly be a most uncomfortable experience.

She had taken to wearing a muffler as a headscarf in a feeble attempt to block some of the sun's sweltering rays. One of those straw hats the NPCs were selling may have done the job better, but she'd be damned if she let anyone see her in something as ridiculous as that. With the heat, sleeves were out too. Even though it was a little weaker than her regular gear, Sinon wore a sleeveless tunic with a leather chestpiece. Unfortunately, she didn't have anything to wear on her legs other than a pair of trousers, and knee-high boots.

Today's schedule was somewhat more relaxed than others—she had been working tirelessly to clear dungeons floor after floor. Instead, Sinon would be doing a good old-fashioned quest. If anything, it would be a break from the front lines and the hardcore players that basically inhabited them.

So, imagine her surprise when she saw a vaguely familiar girl standing at the entrance to the sandstone maze the quest took place in. Asuna of the clearing group tapped her foot impatiently with crossed arms, free of her regular cloak. She was sideways to Sinon, in a way that she might be able to see Sinon out of the corner of her eye. She looked as if she was waiting for something or someone.

 _Should I just go in without saying anything?_

Sinon and Asuna weren't exactly friends. In fact, they'd never spoken, save for their tense first meeting. If Sinon was asked to describe her in one word, her answer would be instant. "Cold".

Thus, her surprise only increased when Asuna pivoted on her heels to look straight at Sinon with a frustrated glare and gestured for Sinon to meet her. Sinon pointed at herself as if to say, " _me?"_

Asuna's look only hardened as she slowly nodded her head once. Sinon walked forward cautiously, taking note of Asuna's twitching eyebrow. Now that she was closer, she could see that Asuna, sans cloak, wore a flashy yet simple garment. Simple in the way that it consisted of a breastplate over a long-sleeved shirt with a mid-thigh-length skirt, flashy in the colour scheme—red and white.

"Asuna?" Sinon probed, "did something happen?"

"Not really," Asuna replied coolly, though her face suggested otherwise. "I had a party lined up to do this quest today, but they're late and I'd like to get started soon. Well, I guess you'll have to do."

 _Maybe your party decided you were a little too hard to get alo—HUH!?_

"I'll… have… to do?" Sinon repeated, blinking. It seemed Asuna had gotten even pricklier in the time since their last interaction.

"Yes. Now let's go, the sooner I can get back to the front lines, the better." Asuna turned swiftly with a huff and marched through the maze's entrance.

"Just wait a second! I don't know what the big idea here is, but you can't just say that and walk right in expecting I'll follow you! At least wait for a while longer!" Sinon called, stopping Asuna in her tracks.

"Like I said, I can't wait any longer." Asuna huffed lightly. But before Sinon could even open her mouth to say anything, she continued. "You know what? Fine. You can stay and wait if you want. I'll do it myself." Without even waiting for a response, the girl turned and marched headlong right into the maze.

Sinon knew there wasn't a way Asuna would be able to go in there alone and come out unscathed. But did they really have a chance together? Regardless, the real question might be: could she handle a life on her conscience?

Sinon sighed. "Argh, alright!"

She followed Asuna into the maze, and a sandstone wall immediately materialized behind them.

"…Wonderful." A disgruntled humph came from the archer, as she eyed the wall that now blocked their exit.

Asuna swivelled, an annoyed expression on her face.

Suddenly, they both lost their balance as the ground rumbled beneath them. Sinon stumbled a step, glancing around frantically. The small chamber they were in lead to three different passages, and something _large_ was coming from one of them. Asuna, similarly, glanced from entrance to entrance, trying to find any trace of a monster.

Their answer came in a cloud of sand, rushing from the leftmost corridor, robbing them of their senses. As she coughed, Sinon patted sand from her tunic with her right hand and wiped at her eyes with her left. As the sand cleared, the first thing Sinon saw was a chitinous spear, sharp to a pinpoint.

But it wasn't a spear. Instead, they were met with a stinger. From the receding cloud of dust skittered a massive black scorpion, two meters in width. Its curled tail reached a full three meters overhead, almost as high as the walls that surrounded them. Its grotesque mouth foamed around the mandibles, and Sinon was so repulsed that she hesitated for a moment in drawing her bow.

Yet Asuna didn't seem to have the same sort of reaction. In an instant, her rapier was flashing in the harsh desert light.

The two fought with no coordination whatsoever. Asuna darted in with her rapier, only to stay in front of the scorpion for too long for Sinon to sink a critical shot. Sinon would likewise throw Asuna off, by firing an arrow that whizzed by too close to her shoulder or ear.

"Hey! Where are you aiming!?" Asuna twisted her torso just long enough to yell at Sinon, before turning to duck under another strike from the scorpion's poisonous tail.

"I'm _aiming_ at the big guy! At least, I would be, if _someone_ didn't keep getting in the way!" Sinon retaliated, grabbing the fletching of another arrow.

Asuna only had time to shoot Sinon a murderous glare before she was forced to face the scorpion once again.

It took them just over five minutes to actually kill the damn thing. Against a single enemy, they were ineffective. Against multiple? Well, they'd be dead. As soon as the last arrow sunk into the scorpion's shell, Asuna wheeled around on Sinon.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Asuna glowered.

"Are _you_ trying to fudge my shots?" Sinon shot back, narrowing her eyes. How could she have gotten stuck with this insufferable girl alone in a dungeon?

With a huff, Asuna turned around. "We-we'll take that passage. That's where the scorpion came from, so it should be our best shot."

"Yeah… The sooner we get out of here, the better." Sinon muttered, under her breath.

They barely made it five meters before the sandstone beneath them collapsed and they fell onto a steep incline and into darkness. As Sinon and Asuna slid, their screams bounced throughout the tiny chamber, and Sinon guessed that it was just big enough for a human lying flat.

As the two tumbled to a stop in a much larger underground room, Sinon laid on the floor in a heap, her body refusing to move. From next to her, Asuna let out a low groan.

"That was _great_." Sinon drawled, purposefully squeezing out every drop of sarcasm she could muster. To her relief, she could still feel her all of her limbs, and none of her joints felt bent at strange angles. She raised her arms above her face, shocked that they hadn't been marred on the way down. Yet, Sinon hadn't escaped completely unharmed—a quarter of her health bar was missing. The sooner they got out, the better indeed.

* * *

The lantern in Sinon's hand flickered to life, casting ghoulish shadows across the two girls' faces.

"What?" Sinon asked, upon seeing the curious look on Asuna's face.

"I'm just a little surprised you're prepared is all," replied Asuna nonchalantly, dusting herself off.

Sinon coughed. After all, experience _was_ the best way to learn.

"There's only one way forward." Sinon muttered, holding her lantern higher in an attempt to cast light further down the hallway before them.

"Then the choice is easy." Asuna responded, and the two set off into the unknown.

The underground chambers they'd fallen into turned out to be sprawling network of catacombs. It seemed like an eternity walking past and even _through_ bones before they finally reached a circular room, maybe five meters in diameter. A thin stream of light poured into the space from a tiny hole in the roof above—yet there was enough daylight that the two girls were blinded, averting their eyes.

As they did, the noticed the symbols carved deep into the pale rocks, completely covering the walls. They were nothing Sinon had ever seen before—long, flowing strokes and strong marks and dashes. Almost like an archaic form of kanji. The floor was less sandstone and more actual sand, giving the girls an excuse to rest for a minute.

Sinon sat against the wall hugging her knees, letting a handful of sand flow through her fingers.

"It's nothing like real life." Asuna broke the silence, sifting through the grains with her fingers. She sounded almost… bitter.

Maybe it was the lull in activity that made Sinon feel especially candid, or maybe it was the melancholic scene in front of her. "Does it have to be?"

This seemed to get Asuna riled up. "What do you mean 'does it have to be'? Every day in this counterfeit reality is a day lost in the real world."

"Well, what's the difference?" Sinon dragged her fingers down and opened her menu, seemingly contradicting herself.

"What do you mean?" Asuna sat as well, raising an eyebrow.

"We're still alive, aren't we? And besides," she paused for a second, feeling her breath hitch, "people... can be strong here." Sinon finished at a whisper, and Asuna didn't immediately reply.

"…Wouldn't _you_ rather be strong in _reality?_ " The other girl finally spoke, after what felt like an eternity of silence.

Sinon blinked, surprised that Asuna had deduced the reason for her split-second hesitation.

' _I can't!'_ She wanted to admit. Of course Sinon wanted to be strong in the real world. It wasn't as if she hadn't tried and tried. Yet no matter what she did, what she'd exposed herself to, the result was always the same.

"Maybe one day..." Sinon muttered, burying her nose further between her knees. Maybe one day, she'd be strong enough to merely _hold_ it...

Sinon glanced at the girl next to her and her eyes widened in surprise. In spite of the former hostility between them, Asuna smiled. It was small-the corners of her lips barely turned up. Her eyes didn't glimmer with happiness… If anything, Asuna looked _sad_ , almost as if she was sympathetic.

Sinon hated pity.

She should've _detested_ any semblance of it, coming from Asuna. Yet, she felt as if by some chance, Asuna actually understood her, if only a little.

And somehow, Sinon felt ever-so-slightly content.

* * *

 **A/N:** A more heavy end to a chapter, and it's pretty fitting because this was supposed to be a more emotional, introspective chapter for Sinon. It took me a while to write, but the upside is that my beta, One More Guy, ended up liking a lot of it the first time around. Yay!

I've been keeping up a pretty cool update schedule of the first and last of the past few months, but I definitely won't be able to keep that up now that school's starting. This time, I really don't have much to say. Reviews, follows and faves are really appreciated-they help me get writing again faster!

I guess the last thing to do would be to plug **Ace Fiction** again, and I really don't have any creative ideas to do it. Um... We're a discord community with a bunch of authors and writers where everybody comes to chill, share ideas and make requests every once in a while! If you want to get to know us authors, it's probably the best place to be. We're really accepting! **/YU8A6Bp**

I hope you guys enjoyed.

Until next time,

-TheSilentSwordsman


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